A. What information and documents are requested by the Jewish court (Bais Din)?
1) Jewish marriage contract (Ketubah) and civil license, if available
2) Date and place of marriage ceremony
3) Name, address and affiliation of officiating Rabbi
4) All known names of husband and wife (e.g. Hebrew, English, Yiddish)
5) Religion of husband and wife
6) All known names of fathers and mothers of husband and wife
7) Birth religion of parents of both husband and wife
8) Two items of identification, i.e. driver's license, passport, etc.
B. What are the standard Bais Din procedures?
1) A standard Get procedure is non-adversarial and does not involve litigation.
2) One of the parties contacts the Bais Din to initiate the Get procedure, and/or set a date for both of them to appear for the Get procedure, and makes arrangements for payment of fee.
3) Each party may be accompanied by a family member or friend.
4) When both husband and wife appear, the following transpires: The Get, a 12 line document, is written by hand by an experienced scribe under the direction of the Bais Din. After the document has been written it is signed by two authorized witnesses. The husband then presents the document to the wife in the presence of the witnesses at which point the divorce takes effect.
5) Once the Get has been accepted by the wife, it is cut by the supervising Rabbi (so that it can never be used again) and retained in the Bais Din files.
6) The Bais Din issues a document (P'tur) to each party, generally after the civil divorce is finalized, indicating that a Get has been given and accepted and that each is free to remarry.
7) The entire divorce procedure is conducted in English and Hebrew (or if necessary in the spoken language of the parties) and generally takes about one hour.
C. What happens if one party refuses to appear at the Bais Din?
1) The Bais Din will call or send a letter asking the reluctant spouse to contact the Bais Din for an appointment within 10 days.
2) Should there be no response, the Bais Din sends a summons (Hazmonah) via registered mail, return receipt requested, to the reluctant spouse.
3) If there is still no response, the Bais Din will issue two additional summonses (hazmonos) at two-week intervals.
4) After three summonses have been issued without a response from the reluctant spouse, the Bais Din, as a rule, will issue a judgment of siruv. The siruv ruling states that this individual is a "recalcitrant" subject to public ostracism and condemnation. It calls upon the community to take appropriate action.
D. What happens if both parties appear before the Bais Din, but one refuses to abide by the decision of the Bais Din?
The Bais Din may issue a Siruv as described above.
E. What are some other special circumstances?
In situations where direct contact between husband and wife would present difficulty, either due to geographic or other constraints, alternate measures are available.
F. What is the standard fee for a Get?
The fee for a standard Get is $500. The fee may be slightly higher if special circumstances are involved (see above).
^Return To Top
