Personal affairs courts: 

Personal affairs courts look into the issues related to the family law and the Islamic and religious courts are made Muslims and the sectarian courts for the Druze. The civil proceedings code stated on: 

A‌.   Article 486, proceedings that allow the Religious courts to give final judgment in cases of:

1. Legitimate tenure, custody and attorney.
2. Proving death and specifying legitimate shares of the heirs.
3. Interdiction and dissolving it and proving maturity.
4. The lost
5. Parentage.
6. Maintenance of relatives other than husband or wife and children.

B‌.   The jurisdiction of this court shouldn’t include:

Cases stated in personal affairs laws for spiritual sects like Syriac, Orthodox and Catholic.

Inheritance and testament cases for sects like Syriac, Orthodox and Catholic.

Cases stated in articles 208/207 from the personal affairs law no. 1953/59.

Article 487 civil procedures: 

The Religious courts is specialized in giving final judgment in personal cases for Muslims and this includes:

A‌.   Marriage

B‌.   Divorce.

C‌.   Dowry and trousseau.

‌D.   Custody and breastfeeding.

E‌.   Alimony between husband, wife and children.

F‌.   Endowment regarding its position, necessity and validity of its terms.

Article 488:

A‌.   The religious court judges in emergent cases related to things in its area of competence pursuant to previous articles.

B‌.   The religious court can judge with provisional seizure in financial cases related to custody cases related to seizure issued in these claims.

C‌.   Provisional seizure requests and decisions issued in them by the religious courts shall be applied as well as the rules and procedures stated in articles 317 and 324.

Article 489:

The religious courts are specialized in the following matters:

A‌.   Giving permission for legitimate attorney and other attorneys in cases where the law imposes to get the permission of a religious judge.

B‌.   Organizing will, endowment and rights based on them as well as marriage contracts and approving them, divorce, documents of counting legitimate heritage, appointing legitimate attorney, imposing alimony and dropping it by mutual consent, parentage of children by proving his parents and proving eligibility.

Article 493:

The religious court shall not look in claims and cases related to a foreigner that is subject to a civil law in his home country.

Article 494:

The religious courts are subject to the rules of civil competence stated in this law.

Article 495:

The competence of giving permission of marriage is related to the court where the domicile of one of the couple lives.

Article 496:

Giving permission for managing the affairs of the underage is of the competence of the court where the custodian or trustee lives or the court where one of the legacy's properties lies.

Article 497:

Appointing the custodian is of the competence of the court where the deceased or the heir exist.

Article 498:

A‌.   Claims and trial get held according to the procedures of courts of first instance in simple cases.

B‌.   The judges of the religious court are subject to the rules of lack of jurisdiction and procedures and methods of appeal stated in article no. 175 and what follow it.

C‌.   The articles related to rules’ issuance, correction and interpretation and expenditure of claim refer to the religious court.

‌D.   The judges issued by the religious court are subject to appeal methods related to the judgments issued in final grade.

The Syrian courts that were working during the regime are still working and approves all types of marriage and divorce and accept visitors as they used to be.

Also the civil affairs courts are still working but there are new courts near them that are related to the self-administration (people's courts) and issue family records for the citizens and apply the basic principles and special provisions related to women which are issued by the joint governor in Aljazera district on 02/10/2014.

The basic principles and public provisions related to woman:

Based on the provisions of social contract and the authorization of the legislative council in its session no. 27 for year 2014 that include the basic principles and public provisions related to woman, the joint governor of Aljazera district states the following:

As women in our male dominated communities face a lot of political, social, economic, cultural and psychological problems and for the effect of these things on women that result in marginalization, injustice, denouncement and deprivation from rights as well as the traditional heritage that stands as a barrier in front of the development of woman and buries her aspirations towards future, in addition to the existence of legislatives, laws and tyranny factors that deeply witness that the struggle of woman in order to gain her rights is still there and isn’t completed yet the matter that negatively reflect not only on woman but also on the society in general. Types of this struggle are divorce from the will of one side, enforced marriage, polygamy, and many other uncountable cases that are still increasing till this moment. And believing in the importance of the role of woman in family that forms the basic core of society, the freedom of woman will be the main guarantee to create a free democratic family and community. We also believe that the level of civilization in any society is only achieved through empowering the role of woman and including her in building and developing this society. Thus, the woman will continue in fighting till achieving guarantees to preserve her dignity and take her freedom and right in taking responsibility of herself and her children. The woman will no longer accept marginalization as freeing her is an urgent necessity to face all types of barbarism, violence and murder.

And since guaranteeing the freedom and rights of woman is one of the main objectives for the democratic self-administration, all society rooted cases related to woman should be treated and the rank of woman should be elevated in all fields and she should obtain a secure and stable life and get defended against tyranny and violence by getting her legitimate rights.

And in order to achieve all that we worked on setting a group of basic principles and general provisions related to woman that guarantee actual equality for her in order to build a democratic, ecological and free society.

Basic principles

1. Fighting the reactionary and authoritative mentality in the society is a duty on each individual in the areas of self-administration.
2. Democracy.
3. Equality between men and women in all private and public fields of life.
4. The woman has the right of suffrage and nomination and working in all positions.
5. Committing to the principle of participatory administration in all organizations.
6. The woman has the right to form political, social, economic and cultural organizations as well as organizations of legitimate defense and other organizations related to woman in a way that doesn’t contradict with the social contract.
7. Having a representative for feminine organizations and human rights organizations as a monitor while discussing laws that get issued in exceptional circumstances in the Legislative Council with a proactive invitation from the Council.
8. The will of the woman should be taking into consideration when issuing laws related to woman in the Legislative Council.
9. Equality between man and woman in the right of work and wage.
10. Equality between the testimony of woman and the testimony of man regarding the legal value.
11. . The girl shall not get married without her consent.
12. Canceling dowry as it's regarded a material value that aims to owning the woman and it shall be replaced with the participation of the two parties in securing participatory life.
13. Organizing marriage deeds civilly.
14. Prohibiting polygamy.
15. Each party has the right to ask for separation and divorce of the will of single side shall be demolished.
16. Equality between man and woman in all heritage cases.
17. Prohibiting any kind of forcing the girl to marry her cousin, marriage of exchange and wergild marriage.
18. Incriminating murder under the excuse of passion and considering it a crime that is complete from materialistic, moral and legal sides and its committer shall be punished with the penalties stated in the criminal law as a crime of a premeditated murder.
19. Imposing draconian and equal sanctions on the committer of infidelity from both sides.
20. Incriminating child and women trafficking with all its types and imposing draconian sanctions on its committers.
21. The trafficking types include (sexual exploitation- child labor- trafficking in human organs).
22. Violence and discrimination against woman is totally prohibited and discrimination is regarded a crime that requires punishment by law and the democratic self-administration has to fight all types of violence and discrimination through developing legal mechanisms and services to provide protection and treatment for the victims of violence.
23. The democratic self-administration has to guarantee the rights of children and protect them from all types of violence and exploitation.
24. General provisions:
25. Granting woman and man equal rights regarding the law of nationality.
26. The democratic self-administration guarantee health and social insurance for individual and family, especially child and woman, as well as the underlying determinants to live a free decent life and also provides necessary protection for widows and old women.
27. It is prohibited to marry a girl before making sure that she is above eighteen years old.
28. The woman has the right of having custody of her children till reaching fifteen years old whether she got married or not and after that the children shall have the right to choose and it's the duty of the two parties to secure accommodation and maintenance for children during the period of custody.
29. In case children under fifteen years old wanted to travel, they have to get the consent of both their parents.
30. In cases related to woman and family put in front of courts, it’s a must to have a representative for the position of the woman and his opinion will be consultative and not obligatory.
31. Granting the paid maternity leave for working woman for three times of delivery.
32. In case of separation, the wife will have the right in the trousseau she provided as well as the gold or what equals their value whether she has them in her possession or they have been expended by her husband.
33. The democratic self-administration shall establish special centers for pregnant and breastfeeding women who are in jail in order to spend their period of sanction taking care of their situation and the situation of their pregnancy and babies.

- This law shall be regarded valid starting from the date of publishing it in the official newspaper.

The woman usually go to the courts “SDF Syrian Democratic Forces” in order to get their rights fast, and the marriages can be approved in these courts in order to facilitate the travel of the citizens to Erbil for reunion and travel to Europe and going to embassies in order to get Visas.

The regime also opened many courts:  (A court in Sabkha in Reka- Al-Kahtanya- Al-Derbasya- Tal Tamr- Al-Derkly and Amoda).

Engagement and promise with marriage, paying dowry and accepting presents shall not be regarded as marriage.

Each of the engaged man and woman have the right to cancel the engagement.

By canceling the engagement from any side or the death of any side of the engaged couple allows the other side or his heirs to redeem the dowry or its value if it was consumed.

If the engaged man paid the dowry in cash and the woman bought any of her trousseau with it and the man canceled the engagement, the woman will have the choice either to return the cash or to give him the things she bought. And if the woman is the one that canceled engagement, she will have to return the dowry or what equals its value.

If any of the engaged man and woman canceled the engagement for an accepted reason, he/she will redeem the presents given to the other side or its value except if there is a tradition or condition opposite to that.

If the engagement ended with death for a reason far from the engaged persons or ended with a circumstance that prevented marriage, no presents shall be returned. If canceling engagement caused material or moral damaged for any of the parties, it’s allowed to judge with compensation.

Article no. 469 from the Syrian sanctions law stated on:

1. Whoever marries a virgin minor outside the competent court without the consent of her guardian shall be punished with imprisonment from one to six months and a fine of 50,000 to 100,000 Syrian Pounds, but if the contract is concluded with the consent of the guardian but outside the court, the penalty shall be limited to the fine.
2. Whoever married a minor virgin outside the court shall be punished with a fine of 25.000 to 50.000 Syrian pounds if the contract was concluded with the consent of the guardian.

Whoever marries a woman outside the competent court before completing the dealings stated in the personal affairs law shall be punished with a fine of 10.000 to 20.000 Syrian pounds.

1. Yes, both husband and wife have the right to limit the marriage contract to special conditions provided that they don’t contradict with law and Shariah.
2. If the contract is limited with a condition that contradicts with its legitimate system or purposes, the condition will be void and the contract will be true.
3. No condition shall be counted unless explicitly stated in the marriage contract.
4. For the affected party of the couple when violating the correct condition, he/she shall has the right to terminate contract.

1. There is no minimum or maximum limit for the dowry.
2. Everything that is legitimately valid, shall be valid to be a dowry whether it was money or work or benefit.
3. When completing the dowry all of it or some of it, the validity shall be to the buying force of the dowry at the time of writing marriage contract provided that it doesn't exceed the dowry of equal at the day of paying it unless there is a condition or a tradition opposite to that.
4. The dowry of the woman is regarded a debt that comes in sequence after the debt of accrual alimony stated in article 1120 from the civil law.
5. For those who claim complicity or falseness in the called dowry, they have to prove this by documents and if any of them was proven, the judge shall specify the equal dowry on woman’s peers if the true called dowry wasn’t proven.
6. Each debt that comes the marriage or divorce documents shall be regarded from the debts that are proven in written and included in the first paragraph from article 447 from the law of procedures no. 1 for the year 2016 and the delayed dowry shall not be regarded due before the end of the waiting period according to what the judge decides in the document.

Article 70: The wife has to travel with her husband unless there is a condition in the contract that oppose this concept or if the judge found a barrier for travel.

Article no. 76 from the Syrian personal status law states on:

The alimony of the wife is estimated according to the financial condition of the husband provided that it doesn’t go below the amount necessary for adequate sustenance for the wife.

Article 85:

1. The man owns complete competency of divorce when her reaches eighteen years old.
2. The judge has the right to permit with divorce or allow divorce of the married person that hasn’t reached eighteen years old if he found the benefit in that.

Article 86:

The position of divorce is the woman that is correctly married or the woman that is in waiting period from a revocable divorce and in other cases that that the divorce won't be correct even if it’s unresolved.

Article 87:

1. Divorce occurs verbally and in written form and also occurs from the deformed person by making a specific understood sign.
2. The husband has the right to mandate someone else to perform divorce.
3. The husband has the right to mandate the wife to divorce herself.
4. If the mandated wife divorced herself, the divorce will occur as a minor irrevocable divorce unless it was the third time of divorce.

5.         If the wife was mandated to divorce herself in the marriage contract when it was written, the husband won't have the right change it and the mandate won’t fall with the demolish of the husband's competency.

Article 92:

1. Divorce accompanied with a number whether verbally or by sign one counts as one divorce.
2. The number of repeated divorce in one setting shall be counted unless the husband meant with the repetition to confirm divorce and the husband has to swear that he meant to confirm divorce by repeating it.
3. The repeated divorce in multiple settings shall be counted for each time of divorce as long as the wife is still in the waiting period.

Article 93:

1. The divorce occurs with explicit words without the existence of intention.
2. The divorce occur with metonymy words that have the same meaning of divorce and intended to mean divorce.
3. The husband after divorce has to document his divorce with two witnesses or with a statement at the competent court in thirty days from the occurrence of divorce otherwise he will fall under the stated sanctions for violating the administrative procedures stated in the penal law.

Article 94:

 Each divorce shall be regarded revocable unless it's the third time of divorce and divorce before completing marriage or having sex with wife and abdicative divorce and what has been stated to be irrevocable in the law.

Article 109:

1. If the husband got absent for more than one year, the wife shall have the right to demand separation from the judge for being affected from his absence even if he left money for her to spend from it.
2. If the husband got a sentence of more than three years in prison, the wife shall after six months in prison have the right to demand separation from the judge for being affected from the absence of the husband even if he left money for her to spend from it.
3. If the wife proved he claim by proving documents, the judge shall make her swear that she is affected from the absence of the husband.
4. This separation is regarded a revocable divorce and if the absent husband returns or the prisoner got free, he will have the right to return her.

Article 111:

1. The wife has the right to demand separation if her husband abandoned her or swear not to have sex with her for a period of four months or more.
2. If the husband pledges for the judge that he will leave abandonment, the judge shall specify a specific period to return for the wife and if he doesn’t return, the judge shall divorce them for a revocable divorce.
3. The return shall be valid only by enforcement of marriage conditions unless there is a legitimate excuse, then the return might be correct by word.

Article 117:

If the husband divorced his wife with his single will without a reasonable reason and without a demand from the wife, she shall deserve a compensation from her husband according to his financial state and with a value of not more than three years for her peers from women added to the expense of waiting period and the judge has to decide to pay this compensation in one-time payment or on installments according to the financial state of the husband.

Article 120:

The divorce that completes the three times of divorce immediately ends marriage and prevents the husband from renewing the marriage contract before meeting the conditions stated in article no. 36 from this law.

Article 137:

1. The custodian must be eligible for the following conditions:
2. Sanity
3. Maturity
4. Clearance of dangerous infectious diseases.
5. Ability to raise and take care of the child in his custody.
6. Not previously sentenced for a crime of honor.
7. The custodian woman shall add to the conditions mentioned in paragraph /1/ of this article that she should not be married to a husband that is a stranger for the child in her custody unless the court decided the opposite for the benefit of the child in custody.
8. The custodian man shall add to the conditions mentioned in paragraph /1/ of this article:
9. To be having a woman that is eligible for custody.
10. To be an unmarriageable person for the female child in custody.
11. The custody of the mother shall continue even if she is on a religion other than the religion of the father of the child in custody unless she wasn’t proven to be using the custody to raise the child on her religion. And the custody of the mother shall fall if she follows a religion other than the religion of the father of the child when the child completes five years of age.

Article 138:

Marriage of mother that have a child in custody to a man that is marriageable to the child shall cancel her custody.

Article 139:

1. The right custody is for the mother.. Then for the father.. Then for the mother and mother of mother.. Then for father and father of father.. Then for the blood sister.. Then for the mother's sister.. Then for the father's sister.. Then for the daughter of mother's sister.. Then the daughter of step-sister of the mother. Then the daughter of step-sister of the father. Then for the aunts from mother’s side. Then for the aunts from father’s side. In this sequence and then for relatives from males that have right in inheritance except for the father based on the succession of inheritance.
2. The right of the work mother in custody doesn’t fall because of her work if she is able to secure good life and care for them in an acceptable way.
3. The custodian has the right to ask the judge to give him the child and the judge has to decide this delivery without solving the dispute after asserting the right of custodian in taking custody. The judge shall also decide a temporary alimony for the child on the one he sees commissioned to pay it and the decision of the judge shall be implemented by the competent law enforcement department. And if anyone opposes the decision of the judge in delivering the child or paying the alimony or part of it, he has to apply to the competent court of appeal in order to appeal this decision and the claim will be subject to procedures and methods of appeal in the religious judgments provided that the above-mentioned judgment get implemented till the issuance of another judgment.

Article 140:

If there are many persons that have right in custody, the judge shall choose the best one from them to be the custodian.

Article 141:

The right to have custody returns in case the reason that made it fall got demolished.

Article 142:

The fee of custody is put on the one commissioned to pay alimony for the young child and it is estimated according to the financial state of the commissioned person.

Article 143:

The mother shall not get the fee of custody in case she got married or if she was in the waiting period of divorce.

Article 144:

If the one commissioned to pay the fee of custody is unable to pay and any of his relatives donated with the fee of custody, the custodian shall have the option between take custody without taking wage or delivering the child to the donor.

Article 145:

If the woman showed dissonance and her children were above five years old, the judge will have the right to give the custody to any of the husband or wife provided that he sees the benefit of the children with the one he chose based on a good reason.

Article 146:

1. The custody ends when the child under custody (whether a boy or a girl) reaches fifteen years old and after that he shall choose to stay with one of his parents.
2. For the person that the child chose for custody the right to ask the judge to deliver him the child according to the procedures stated in paragraph /3/ from article /139/ from this law.

Article 147:

1. If the custodian was someone other than the father, the judge will have right to give the child whether a boy or a girl to the most suitable one for the child till the girl get married or the boy reaches the age of maturity.
2. In case of giving the boy to the mother or anybody in her place, she shall be committed to expend on the child as long as she can do so.
3. If it is proven that the custodian, even if he was the father, was untrustworthy on the child, the child shall be delivered to the next one in custody without violating the provision of first paragraph of this article.

Article 148:

1. Both parents have the right to see their children periodically in the place of their residence and if they were opposed in doing that, the judge shall order with securing this right and choose a way to implemented immediately without the need to get a judgment from the Basic Courts. Anyone that oppose the legal sight for the children or its method has to go to the court and anyone that violates the decision of the judge shall be subject to the provisions of penal law.
2. The parents of the deceased or absent parent of the child have the same right given to the parents in the previous paragraph.

Article 149:

If the custodian is someone other than the mother, she won't have the right to travel with the child without the permission of his guardian.

Article 150:

1. None of the parents shall have the right to travel alone with the child outside the Arab Republic of Syria during marriage without the permission of the other one. Unless the benefit of the child states on the opposite. And this shall be decided by the judge with a justified decision.
2. None of the parents shall have the right to travel alone with the child outside the Arab Republic of Syria during custody period without the permission of the other one. Unless the benefit of the child states on the opposite. And this shall be decided by the judge with a justified decision.
3. The judge shall permit the custodian mother to travel with the child inside the Syrian Arab Republic to the town she lives in or works in, under the condition of achieving the benefit of the child in custody.
4. The grandmother from the mother's side has the same right given to mother in paragraph /3/ from this article.