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Term Definition Religious Divorce - a nonsecular dissolution of a marriage by a religious body or ecclesiastical court.
Application in Divorce Almost all couples seeking to end a marriage do so in civil courts; however, some people, for religious reasons, seek an end to marriages in a religious body. Observant Jews seek a Get, by which the husband, and he alone, sets his wife free. Neither he or she may collude in the divorce. Under rabbinical law, the husband alone may institute the action, and this puts the wife at a distinct disadvantage.

Religious annulments and divorces must also be accompanied by civil annulments and divorces. A religious divorce follows actions in civil court.

See also Get; Annulment.