DIVORCE PETITION

An applicant (husband) or his authorities must take the following steps:

1.

1. Filing a divorce application written or orally to religious court.

2. The applicant is advised to ask for information from religious court on how to make a divorce application.

3. The application can be changed except for bases of the application and demands. The changes of an application must be with respondent’s approval if the respondent has responded to the application.

2. The application is to be filed to:

1. The religious court whose jurisdiction covers the respondent’s residential address.

2. If the respondent leaves the residency without the applicant’s approval, the application must be filed to the religious court whose jurisdiction covers applicant’s residency.

3. If the respondent resides abroad, the application must be filed to the religious court whose jurisdiction covers the applicant’s residency.

4. If both the applicant and the respondent reside abroad, the application must be filed to the religious court whose jurisdiction covers their place of marriage or to the Religious Court of Central Jakarta.

3. The divorce application must include:

• Name, age, occupation, religion and residential address of both the applicant and the respondent.

• Posita (ground facts and legal facts)

• Petitum (demanded things based on ground facts and legal facts).

4. Divorce-related lawsuit such as children custody, children expenses, wife expenses and marital property settlement can be filed together with divorce petition or after divorce decree has been declared.

5. Paying the court fees. However, the poor can file their cases with prodeo (courts fees are waived).

6. The applicant and the respondent or their authorities attend court hearings upon summons from religious court.

CASE FINALIZING PROCESS

1. The applicant registers his divorce application to the religious court.

2. The applicant and the respondent are summoned by the religious court to attend court hearings.

3. Hearing Stages

1. At the first hearing, a panel of judges tries to reconcile the two parties and both parties (wife and husband) must come in person (Art. 82 Act. No. 7/1989).

2. If the reconciliation effort fails, judges oblige both parties to follow mediation (Article 3 point 1 Supreme Court Regulation No. 2/2003).

3. If mediation fails, the hearing of the case proceeds to the next steps: reading the application, response, denial, evidencing and conclusion. The respondent can file a rekonvensi (a lawsuit against the applicant) at the response stage before evidencing.

Judgments of religious courts can be as follows:

1. Petition granted. If respondent is not satisfied with the judgment, she can file an appeal to the High Religious Court through the religious court handing down the judgment.

2. Petition dismissed. If the applicant is not satisfied with the judgment, he can file an appeal to the High Religious Court through the religious court handing down the judgment.

3. Petition unaccepted. The applicant can file a new application.

4. If the petition is granted and the judgment has a final and binding force:

1. The religious court decides the day and date of session in which divorce decree is declared by the applicant (husband).

2. The religious court summons both applicant and respondent to attend the above session.

3. If within 6 months after the date of the divorce decree session, the applicant does not attend the session, then the preliminary judgment of divorce is no longer effective and another petition of divorce can not be filed with the same grounds and reasons.

4. After a divorce decree has been declared by the applicant (husband) the registrar must provide certificates of divorce as a legal and official proof of divorce within 7 days after the decree.

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