Rabbinical Court Limits Possibility of Exemption from Ketubah Payment

The Great Rabbinical Court has published a ruling that limits the possibility of exempting a husband from paying the ketubah, clarifying that the burden of proof for an exemption falls on the husband. The decision joins the Chief Rabbinate's restriction on the ketubah amount, signaling a stricter policy regarding ketubah obligations.

The Great Rabbinical Court has published a ruling that limits the possibility of exempting a husband from paying the ketubah, clarifying that the burden of proof for an exemption falls on the husband, even if the wife's conduct was not without difficulties. The ruling was given in a case where a woman demanded 500,000 shekels in ketubah payment, and the husband argued that her leaving the home and initiating the divorce justified an exemption. The court ordered a compromise of 250,000 shekels, offset against the wife's debt in resource balancing. The decision joins a previous move by the Chief Rabbinate that limited the ketubah amount to a range of 36,000–360,000 shekels. The author, Lihi Cohen-Dembinsky, a partner at the Firon law firm and head of the family law department, analyzes the implications of this trend on the intersection between ketubah law and property division.