False university degree claims, health problems lead to marriage annulment

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

False claims about a university degree and hidden health troubles were exposed in court, leading a woman to successfully annul her marriage contract.

The Court of Cassation upheld the decision, rejecting the husband’s last-ditch appeal and ordering him to foot the legal bill.

The woman, represented by lawyer Ibtisam Al Sabbagh, argued that her husband had deceived her at the time of their 2020 marriage by claiming he had finished university.

In reality, he was still in secondary school, attending an adult literacy programme.

Deception

Adding to the deception, the husband failed to disclose his intellectual disability, learning struggles, and history of attending special education schools in a Gulf country.

Witnesses backed the woman’s account, with the court accepting their statements as reliable.

Initially, the Court of First Instance sided with the husband, but the woman appealed, and the Court of Appeal overturned the ruling, agreeing that the fraud gave her grounds to annul the marriage.

The husband then turned to the Court of Cassation in an effort to reverse the decision. Judgment The court based its judgment on Article 116 of the Family Law No. 19 of 2017, which allows either spouse to annul a marriage if they were misled. Courts have the power to weigh up evidence and arguments, as long as their decisions rest on sound reasoning