Prison sentence for husband’s coercive control by withholding Jewish “Get” in divorce, but is a forced “Get” valid?

A man has been jailed for 18 months for refusing to grant his wife a religious divorce.  Under orthodox Jewish law, a man must grant a woman a “Get” in order to divorce.  A “Get” is a document a husband gives to a wife under Jewish law to end the marriage and release the wife.  This allows the wife to remarry.  If there is no “Get”, the wife remains married and would not be able to remarry in a synagogue.

The Domestic Abuse Act was amended to include the withholding of a “Get” as behaviour amounting to domestic abuse.  The wife launched a private prosecution of her husband.  The court at Southwark Crown Court heard that the husband withheld the Jewish Get to prevent his wife from remarrying.  

The judge handed down an 18 month prison sentence and ordered the husband to pay £11,000 in costs after he entered a guilty plea.  In sentencing him, the judge said “you sought to manipulate and control her all in the knowledge that it would substantially impact her mental health and in some respects also impact her physical health.”  

One of the ironies of this case is that, whilst the Domestic Abuse Act enables those who deny “Gets” to be punished for their controlling behaviour, under Jewish law, if a husband is forced into giving a “Get”, it is invalid and the husband is considered to have given the “Get” under duress.  We still end up with an unsatisfactory result for these wives.

“To those who have emotionally coerced and controlled, physically hurt, and dehumanised their spouses: the law will not allow you to get away with your crimes,”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/01/salford-alan-moher-jailed-refusing-wife-caroline-get-jewish-religious-divorce