Court recognises unregistered marriage, affirms child lineage

TDT | Manama

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A Sharia Court has ruled in favour of a woman seeking to establish the lineage of her child born from an unregistered marriage The court accepted the testimony of witnesses and confirmed the validity of the marriage, despite the lack of formal documentation.

According to lawyer Mohammed Ibrahim Al Sari, the plaintiff and the defendant, the child’s father, entered into an unregistered marriage on July 28, 2022, through a verbal agreement witnessed by the defendant’s brother after the death of his father.

The couple’s child was born four months after the marriage, prompting the woman to file a lawsuit to establish the legal status of their union. In its ruling, the court acknowledged the plaintiff’s request to prove the marriage, which was corroborated by the testimony of witnesses and met all the necessary legal requirements.

Legal, religious implications

It ruled in favour of the plaintiff, recognising the marriage and its legal and religious implications. The court dismissed the argument presented by the defendant’s representative, who claimed that the couple had entered into a registered marriage 15 months after the unregistered one, and had declared in the registered contract that they were previously unmarried. Additionally, the court emphasised that the validity of a marriage hinges on the presence of necessary legal elements and the absence of any impediments.

The court further highlighted that the existence of these elements and the absence of impediments in the prior unregistered marriage were established through the testimony of witnesses. “The marriage contract was validly executed between the legal guardian and the husband, in the presence of two witnesses, and without any denial of the dowry.

Therefore, the court ruled that the prior unregistered marriage holds precedence over the later registered one, as the former was valid and established, rendering the latter irrelevant,” the ruling read. The court also noted that the defendant had acknowledged the child’s lineage in the birth notification issued by the Ministry of Health.