Iran has changed a law to make divorce by mutual consent invalid unless couples have first undergone state-run counseling, the country’s latest move to tackle a rise in broken marriages.
The measures, reported by media at the weekend, are contained in a new family law that a top official said would be implemented by Iran’s judiciary.
“A decree of divorce by mutual consent, without counseling, is forbidden,” Parnian Ghavam, head of the judiciary’s social work and counseling office, is quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.
An Iranian couple sit together in the northwestern Shahran neighborhood overlooking Tehran on June 7, 2014. (photo credit: AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)
All Iranians filing for divorce would be obliged to go to a counselor, she says. “From now on, without this it will not be possible to register divorces of mutual consent.”
Iran’s average divorce rate peaked at 21 percent last year, with big cities showing far higher rates.
One in three marriages fails in Tehran.
— AFP
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