Agbara v. Agbara

The distinctions in Jewish Law regarding the status of a woman who lives with a man to whom she is not married formed the basis of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Agbara v. Agbara (CA 4946/94, 49(2) PD 508). The case concerned a divorced couple, whose divorce agreement stipulated that “the husband’s obligation to pay the entire sum of maintenance… will apply until each of the children has reached 21 years of age or until the wife remarries, if she remarries, whichever the later” (p. 510 of judgment). Following the husband’s remarriage and subsequent separation from his second wife – without a get, due to the second wife’s refusal to accept it – the original couple resumed living together as “common law spouses.” Eighteen years later the husband left the home. The woman claimed that the original divorce agreement was still in force, as she had not yet married, and the man was therefore liable for maintenance payments. The husband claimed that his obligation under the agreement lapsed at the point that the wife had received a secure financial framework, and that the agreement was void by implication because their actions, upon returning to live together, attested to its annulment. The Supreme Court (Justice Zvi Tal) ruled that, in accordance with Jewish Law, the agreement was no longer valid because the condition regarding the woman’s remarriage had been fulfilled, and the woman was considered as both betrothed and married to the man.
( Opinion utilizing halakhic definitions )