(Courtesy of Beth Din of America) The Beth Din of America, widely regarded as one of the leading Jewish religious courts in North America, released a new study on the 25th anniversary of the creation of the halachic prenup showing that, today, 84 percent of Modern Orthodox rabbis in the U.S. have the couples they marry sign a prenup in advance of the wedding.
The halachic prenup is a document signed by a man and woman prior to their marriage. It provides that in the unfortunate event of divorce, the Beth Din will have proper authority to ensure that a get (the halachic divorce document ending a marriage) is not used as a bargaining chip. As a result of the success of the halachic prenup, the United States is leading the charge in solving the agunah crisis.
Since its introduction, the prenup has withstood challenges on a number of fronts. In 2012, a Connecticut court upheld the agreement in a reasoned opinion that spelled out its constitutionality. In the early days of the prenup, some objectors complained that introducing a document about divorce to young couples will inevitably undermine the strength of their marriages. But a 2017 article published in a peer-reviewed journal described the results of a broad-based marital satisfaction study that showed, if anything, just the opposite. The study demonstrated “a higher level of marital satisfaction among those who signed the religious prenuptial agreement, and no significant difference in marital adjustment or tendency to consider divorce between groups of individuals who signed or did not sign the religious prenuptial agreement.”
The Beth Din of America surveyed the Rabbinical Council of America membership.
“Virtually every case at the Beth Din in which a prenup has been presented has been resolved with a timely and unconditional get. The prenup has worked to insulate the get from being used as a tool for advantage even in the most contentious cases, where husbands and wives have used everything at their disposal to wage war against each other,” said Beth Din of America Director Rabbi Shlomo Weissman, Esq.
If you or someone you know is about to get married, click here to sign the halachic prenup: https://theprenup.org/the-prenup-forms/.
For more than 50 years, the Beth Din of America has been serving the Jewish community, offering a full range of rabbinical court services, including arbitrating and mediating disputes, arranging Jewish divorces, and resolving halachic personal status issues. The Beth Din delivers these services with integrity, sensitivity, fairness and professionalism. The Beth Din of America along with the Rabbinical Council of America created and administers the halachic prenup, the single most effective solution to the agunah problem. For more information, visit: https://bethdin.org/.
