34 | OCTOBER 17 • 2019 

continued from page 31

Legal Directory from page 31

Legal

religious marriage contract.
“Even though these were 
different faiths, the concept 
is still the same,” she said. “A 
contract in a religious mar-
riage spells out the rights and 
duties of the parties in the 
marriage.”

JEWISH PERSPECTIVE
This Michigan appellate 
decision caught the atten-
tion of Jewish 
attorney William 
Berlin of Berlin 
Family Law 
Group in Troy. 
“The Michigan 
ruling does 
have relevance 
to Jewish practice,” he said. 
“We can use this case in 
regard to ketuvot.”
Berlin noted, however, that 
the issue of a ketubah rarely 
arises in local civil divorce 
proceedings. Monetary and 
custody issues in Jewish 
divorces are resolved in the 
civil court, he said. But the 
issue of a husband’
s refusal to 
provide a get can become a 
sticking point.
Rabbis say that under 
Jewish law, forcing an 
ex-husband to provide a 
get by threat — either of 

violence or by a civil court 
order under threat of jail — 
is not permitted; this would 
be coercion, Berlin said.
But the rabbis found a way 
around this situation to offer 
relief for the former wife — 
the husband is still required 
under the ketubah to sup-
port his ex-wife.
A civil court can order 
very large punitive compen-
sation from the husband 
until he supplies a get, Berlin 
said. Rabbis do not consid-
er this monetary incentive, 
however steep, to be the 
bodily coercion of physical 
harm or confinement and 
will recognize a get given in 
response.
Berlin penned an article 
in the December 2015 issue 
of the Michigan Family Law 
Journal advising attorneys 
in Jewish divorce cases to 
include a provision in the 
divorce decree for this finan-
cial incentive for the hus-
band to provide a get.
“What we’
re also sug-
gesting now is doing more 
prenuptial agreements that 
require a get in the case of 
divorce,” Berlin said. “It 
makes it easier if there is a 
divorce to get a get.” 

William Berlin

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