Providing practical legal advice across all areas of matrimonial law and citizenship matters
We advise and represent clients on all aspects of family and matrimonial law, such as divorce, annulments, disputes over maintenance or custody, personal protection orders, and adoption.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
Since your spouse and you have mutually agreed to divorce, you can opt to file a joint petition for divorce to the Court to dissolve your marriage. A joint petition means a mutual divorce without contest. You will need to engage a lawyer to file the joint petition to the High Court of Malaysia.
To be eligible to apply for divorce in local courts, your marriage has to be registered in Malaysia or if registered elsewhere must be a monogamous marriage and both spouses must be domiciled in Malaysia (there are exceptions where the wife can still file if the husband is not a citizen and not domiciled in Malaysia).
You also need to be married to your spouse for at least 2 years at the time of presentation of the joint petition. If two of you are not married for more than 2 years, you would need to seek to leave (permission) from the Court to present a petition. The Court will only allow so if you can show that there are exceptional circumstances or you have suffered hardship in your marriage, ie. domestic violence.
Next, it is essential that you must agree with your spouse on all the terms of divorce including maintenance for spouse and children, care and custody of the children, and the division of matrimonial assets. If you are unable to agree on all or any of these terms, it is advisable for you to seek legal help from a lawyer to assist you to come to an agreement with your spouse on the divorce terms.
The Court will usually require the presence of both spouses (the attendance may be dispensed with if you can give good reasons to the Court) on the day of hearing as the Court may want to satisfy itself by questioning you as to whether you freely consent to the divorce and whether the provision for the spouse, for the support, care and custody of the children and division of matrimonial assets are fair and reasonable. The Court always has the power to attach other conditions if it thinks fit based on the circumstances of the case.
After the hearing of the joint petition, the Court will grant a decree nisi to both of you which will only be made absolute after 3 months or even a shorter period if you can provide good reasons to the Court. i.e. spouses have separated for many years. Once the decree nisi is made absolute, your marriage will legally come to an end, after which your ex-spouse and you are free to remarry.