Verbal divorce has no legal value: SC

KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that marriage cannot be dissolved without completing the legal procedure.

The apex court’s Karachi registry gave the remarks while hearing the case of a woman who is demanding monthly expenses from the husband.

The apex court ordered the husband to pay for all the necessities. To this, applicant Rasheed Ahmed Qureshi’s lawyer said that his client has verbally given divorce to wife Sufiya Rasheed, therefore, he is not responsible to pay for her monthly expenses.

“Where are the legal documents?” the court inquired. In response, the lawyer said that his witness gave verbal divorce to his wife and the subordinate court has ordered the client to pay Rs5,000 monthly expense to former wife, against which they submitted an application.

Justice Sajjad Ali Shah remarked that divorce is incomplete without completing legal requirements. “Subordinate court can set Rs25,000 as a monthly expense instead of Rs5,000 if the court deems fit,” he further said.

The court, while dismissing the appeal, ruled that monthly expense was the right of the wife.