Divorce in Judaism

Divorce in Judaism is encouraged and supported when a marriage doesn't work out. However, there are many rules and laws involving a Jewish divorce.
== Divorce documents ==
In Jewish Law a get (גט, plural gittim or gittin גיטין) is a divorce document, which is presented by a husband to his wife to effect their divorce. The essential text of the get is quite short: "You are hereby permitted to all men," i.e., the wife is no longer a married woman, and the laws of adultery no longer apply. The get also returns to the wife the legal rights which a husband holds in regard to his wife in a Jewish marriage.
== Rights of divorce ==
According to the halakha, a husband may divorce his wife at any time for any reason.Shulchan Aruch Even Ha'ezer (119:1) Bais Shmuel loc. cit. gloss 3 However, one of the enactments of Gershom ben Judah was forbid a husband to divorce his wife against her will.Shulchan Aruch Even Ha'ezer (119:6) Rama loc. cit.
== Custody of children ==
According to halakhah, both sons and daughters generally stay with the mother until the age of six, and the father must support them.Shulchan Aruch Even Ha'ezer (82:6) At the age of six, the father may stop supporting his male children if they do not live with him. However, if the court deems it preferable for the children to be with their father, the court has the right to give the father custody.Shulchan Aruch Even Ha'ezer (82:6) gloss of the Rama
==Alimony==
In Judaism, alimony for a divorcee is a right written into most ketubot; the sum of money itself is often referred to as the ketubah, in consequence of this. According to the Talmud, a divorcee could collect her alimony at any point following her divorce, no matter how many years had passed.Ketubot 104a The right of a wife to claim the alimony could also be transferred by her to anyone including selling that right.Shulchan Aruch Even Ha'ezer (105:1)
The minimum amount for ketubah is 200 zuzim for a virgin bride and 100 zuzim for a non-virgin bride.;Shulchan Aruch Even Ha'ezer (66:6) 200 Zuzim is generally considered to have been enough for a woman to financially support herself for a full year. These minimum amounts were not the upper limit, meaning that the groom could, if he wished, increase the amount of alimony that the bride would receive.Shulchan Aruch Even Ha'ezer (66:7) 
There are, though, several things which Jewish tradition regards as sufficient to cause the alimony to be forfeited should the bride have committed them. Examples include certain violations of the rules of tzniut; adultery; and actively causing her husband to violate halakhah through actions such as having sexual intercourse with her husband while she was a niddah, giving her husband non-kosher food.Shulchan Aruch Even Ha'ezer (115:1)
== Remarriage ==
===To the same person===
The Mishnah forbade remarriage if the ketubah contained a clause granting the wife alimony in the event of divorce, and a third party had been the guarantor of this money.Tractate Bava Batra, 10:9 This was an anti-fraud measure; without it, the couple could collude against the guarantor, by divorcing in order to obtain the money, and then remarrying again.
===To someone else===
In Judaism, there is no inherent stigma to being a divorcee but the Talmud suggests that it would be unwise for men to marry a divorcee or a widow.Pesahim 112a The Talmud favors the remarriage of a divorced couple to each other again.Tractate Eduyot, (4:7)
The Talmud addresses the problem of fraudulent and conspiratorial divorces, by forbidding certain people from marrying particular widows or divorcees. A suspected adulteress, once she became divorced or widowed, was forbade from marrying the paramour with which she was suspected to have committed the adultery,Yevamot (2:8)Sotah 25a unless she had been married to someone else in between;Yevamot 24b the intervening marriage was thought to refute, to some degree, the accusation of the adultery. Nor does the Talmud permit anyone involved in a woman's divorce proceedings to marry her after the divorce, including the person who actually delivered the divorce documents (the get) to her.Yevamot (2:9)Yevamot 25aGittin 45a 
In order to prevent doubt about the paternity of children, the classical rabbis forbade all women from remarrying until at least 90 days had passed since the end of their previous marriage, so that it could be determined whether she was pregnant.Yevamot (4:10) For the sake of standardisation, the classical rabbis insisted upon a woman waiting the 90 days even when it was obvious that she could not be pregnant. Women were also forbade from remarriage if they were visibly pregnant during this period, or had a child younger than 24 months old, if it was still breastfeeding when the previous marriage ended;Yevamot 41aYevamot 42a once the child had reached 24 months in age, or died, the mother was allowed to remarry (if there was no other impediment).
==See also==
*Alimony in Judaism
*Agunah
*Widowhood in Judaism
*Women in Judaism
*Jewish views on marriage
==References==
Category:Divorce
Category:Judaism and women
Category:Jewish marital law
Category:Women's rights in religious movements