Pathology of the Wife's Financial Rights in the Family Support Law of 2012

Abstract

The issue of the wife's financial rights, as one of the most important topics in family law, has always been a focal point for jurists and legal scholars. However, there remain shortcomings in the legislation, issuance, and enforcement of rulings on this matter. This article, in line with the directives of the Supreme Leader under the general policies of the family, which emphasize the necessity of "reviewing, amending, and completing the legal system and judicial procedures in this field, in accordance with new needs and circumstances," focuses on the pathology of the Family Support Law of 2012 concerning the wife's financial rights. The goal is to outline the achievements and identify the issues that require "review, completion, and amendment" in this section of the law. The findings of this study reveal deficiencies such as the legislator's neglect of the principle of governmental support for women regarding the financial rights of temporary wives, and the issue of enforcing the payment of dowries in line with the policy of decriminalizing imprisonment. Other shortcomings include the failure to address substantive gaps in most matters of the wife’s financial rights, the lack of specification on certain instances of those rights, failure to address issues like "Nahla" (alimony) and the condition of asset division, the creation of rulings without consideration of their potential negative consequences, and the lack of explicit repeal of the Family Support Law of 1974. Among the achievements of the Family Support Law of 2012 are the creation of new governmental protections for women, such as the provision allowing lawsuits against the husband in the wife’s place of residence, addressing gaps in claiming damages during engagement, the establishment of the possibility for the wife to claim her personal expenditures in the shared life, and changes to the law regarding the claim for wages from personal income during married life.