Rabat-Morocco is serious about the application of the provision of the Family Code on polygamy. A man was arrested, along with second wife, on night of their wedding.
Since amendments to the Moroccan family code in 2004, polygamy has been made all but impossible except in the rarest of circumstances. Legally, no man may take a second wife without the permission of the first wife, as well as making a case to a judge that he is financially able to support both wives, and their children equally, and that his circumstances are exceptional.
Yet this has not deterred some men from adulterous plans to take second wives without the permission of the first wife.
On Friday, in the Temsia region near Agadir, in southern Morocco, a couple intending to marry were arrested after the man’s first wife discovered her husband’s adulterous plans and filed a complaint with local prosecution, according to Le360.
The man employed the services of a small, newly opened agency to obtain faulty documents, omitting the existence of his first marriage.
The agent, husband and wife to be, as well as matrimonial agent have been implicated in the case.
The 2004 Family Code, which replaced the Personal Code of 1957, stipulates that a husband should obtain the consent of his first wife if he ever wants to marry a second woman.
In accordance with the Family Code, “the judge shall not authorize polygamy unless he has verified the husband’s ability to guarantee equality with the first wife and her children in all areas of life, and there is an objective and exceptional motive that justifies polygamy.”
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