Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: The High Court’s recent ruling on the divorce of a couple, anonymized as HAL and HAS, highlights the complexities related to marriage, conversion and the legal implications associated with it. The couple, both 74, came into conflict after 50 years of marriage because the woman’s husband converted to Islam almost 24 years ago and then married an Indonesian Muslim woman named TEB.
In May 2021, the husband filed for divorce and cited his conversion to Islam as the reason. The wife filed a counterclaim in response three months later, accusing the husband of adultery. In her written judgement, Justice Evrol Mariette Peters pointed to TEB’s childbirth as evidence of her husband’s adultery and concluded that he had physical relations with TEB before their marriage.
However, despite acknowledging adultery, the judge rejected the woman’s divorce claim on the grounds of adultery and emphasized that she tolerated the infidelity. The woman’s conscious decision to maintain the marital bond despite her husband’s indiscretions undermined her claim of intolerable adultery and led to the irreparable breakdown of the marriage.
The ruling addressed in detail the legal framework around divorce and conversion. Before December 15, 2018, if a spouse converted to Islam, the non-converted spouse could apply for divorce under Section 51 of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act, 1976. Despite this provision, the wife did not request dissolution of marriage when husband converted in 2000 or shortly after, whether on grounds of conversion or adultery.
It was also noted that the husband had delayed applying for divorce to the High Court, despite the 2018 law amendment allowing converted spouses to file for divorce. The judge criticized the delay, calling it a lack of urgency in finalizing the divorce.
However, despite the delays and legal complexities, the husband’s conversion gave the couple the right to divorce, and the decree nisi (a preliminary divorce order that becomes final after a waiting period) was immediately ordered to be made absolute. Regarding the division of marital property, the judge ordered the husband to transfer his share of the marital home to the wife, taking into account factors such as his long absence from home and the ostentatious display of his assets and TEB on social networks that caused additional distress to the wife.
The judge also ordered that the husband must transfer his share in other property to the wife to satisfy her request for spousal maintenance, citing her financial needs, her advanced age, and that she is in the state of no fault in the divorce process initiated by the husband.
While the ruling puts an end to the couple’s marital saga, it also highlights the complex legal and emotional nuances involved in divorce proceedings, particularly in cases of conversion and adultery.
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