Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — Minister of Social Affairs Dr. Yousef Al-Othaimeen told Al-Jazirah daily that the Council of Ministers is studying regulations that will require any man or woman who wants to get married to pass a course on marital life and problems. The minister added that the marriage contract would not be issued unless both spouses presented a certificate proving that they have attended such a course. In the first stage of applying these regulations, anyone wanting to get married will initially be given the option to attend the course. However, it will be obligatory later to attend such courses. Meanwhile, sources in Jeddah General Court said the number of khula divorce cases (where a wife demands a divorce from the husband in court on condition she returns her dowry to him) filed by wives against their husbands has increased over the past two years. In Makkah Province, there were five such cases a day in 2012. The total number of divorce cases in the region in the year 2012 was 2,768. Sources noted that the women who filed khula cases had jobs and the financial ability to pay back the dowry. Forty percent of the cases were initiated because the husbands refused to let their wives continue working in the same job and asked them to quit, while 60 percent was due to the husband's control over his wife's salary. Ahmad Al-Mehaimeed, legal consultant, said the Ministry of Justice's 2011 statistics showed that divorce rates reached 81 cases a day, while khula cases were four a day. The report also noted that the total number of all divorce cases in the Kingdom in 2011 was 34,622. The report said Riyadh was the city with the largest number of khula cases, followed by Makkah.
