Thus, by the expedient of such an agreement even the decisions of a beit din outside of the State of Israel could be civilly enforced. Such a legally- enforceable obligation creates a powerful incentive to grant a get in order to terminate what may be a significant financial liability of spousal support. Moreover, some rabbinic authorities are reluctant to introduce the signing of such an agreement at weddings on the grounds that it introduces thoughts of divorce at a time when parties should be pledging to each other lifelong fidelity and commitment. It should be noted, however, that the standard ketubah that is signed at every halachic marriage makes reference to financial compensation in the event of divorce and, in any case, these agreements do not have to be signed at the wedding. In the State of New York there is a law that essentially provides that a husband will be unable to even obtain a civil divorce unless he removes the impediments to his wife's ability to remarry.
Similar laws exist in the Republic of South Africa and Canada.
This also creates a legal incentive to give his wife a get. Eminent halachic authorities have raised serious questions as to whether a get granted pursuant to such an order would be valid, but strong support for validity may be inferred from a decision of R. Moshe Feinstein, zatzal. An extremely important tool in helping agunot and potential mamzerim rests on the simple idea that only a marriage that is halachically valid requires a get for its termination. In one instance, the women of a particular community refused to go to the mikveh until a man gave a get to his wife. One reason might be that some women are indeed not pursuing their remedies under the system.