Separation for non-support in Iraq: article 43

In briefArticle 43 of Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959 lets a wife seek separation over maintenance in three situations: the husband refuses to support her without a lawful excuse after a grace period of up to sixty days; maintenance cannot be collected because he is absent, missing, has disappeared or is jailed for more than a year; or he fails to pay accumulated maintenance awarded by judgment after the Execution Directorate gives him up to sixty days. The separation takes effect as a minor irrevocable talaq.

When a husband stops supporting his wife, the usual first step is a maintenance claim. Iraqi law also gives her a more far-reaching option: asking the court to end the marriage because of the non-support itself. The office of lawyer Ali Barakat looks here at this one ground in depth, as set out in three items of article 43 of Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959, and at how it differs from an ordinary maintenance case. The other grounds are gathered on the judicial separation page.

The underlying right

Under article 23, a wife's maintenance is owed by her husband from the time of a valid contract. Article 24 defines what it covers: food, clothing, housing and what goes with it, and medical costs, to a customary standard. It also treats the maintenance of a wife who is not recalcitrant as a debt the husband owes for up to one year from the point at which he stopped paying. Failing to provide is therefore a breach of a defined legal duty, not simply a domestic quarrel.

Ground one: refusal without a lawful excuse

Item 7 of paragraph One of article 43 allows the wife to apply for separation where the husband refuses to maintain her without a lawful excuse, after the court has given him a period of no more than sixty days. The grace period is a last chance. If he starts paying within it, the ground falls away; if he keeps refusing without excuse, the court grants the separation.

Whether an excuse is lawful is a matter for the judge on the facts of each file. What the wife has to establish is the marriage and the refusal, and she should expect the husband to put forward reasons for not paying.

Ground two: maintenance that cannot be collected

Item 8 does not depend on any deliberate refusal. It is enough that maintenance cannot be obtained from the husband for one of the reasons the text lists:

he is absent;
he is missing;
he has disappeared;
he has been sentenced to imprisonment for more than one year.

The question is not what the husband intends but whether the wife can actually receive her support. In these same circumstances, article 29 lets her ask for maintenance from the date she files and for permission to borrow in his name, once she proves the marriage and swears he left her nothing. Article 30 then deals with a wife without means who has been authorised to borrow. Whoever would owe her maintenance if she were unmarried must lend to her on request, if able, and may recover only from the husband. If she borrows from an outsider, the lender may pursue either her or the husband. Where no one will lend and she cannot work, the State becomes responsible for supporting her.

Ground three: unpaid arrears under a judgment

Item 9 applies to a wife who already holds a maintenance judgment but has not been paid what has built up. If the husband does not pay the accumulated maintenance awarded to her after the Execution Directorate gives him up to sixty days, she may apply for separation. Here the grace period comes from the execution office, not the Personal Status Court, because maintenance judgments are enforced under Execution Law No. 45 of 1980.

Article 32 provides that accumulated maintenance survives both divorce and the death of either spouse. A separation judgment does not wipe out the arrears owed up to that point.

A maintenance claim versus a separation claim

A maintenance claim asks for money and leaves the marriage in place; it can later be followed by a claim to raise or lower the amount. A claim for separation on grounds of non-support asks the court to dissolve the marriage. The two can form one sequence: a maintenance judgment, then enforcement, then a grace period from the Execution Directorate, then separation under item 9. Which route fits depends on what the wife is trying to achieve.

Proof and the effect of the judgment

Article 44 lets the grounds for separation be proved by any means of evidence, including hearsay testimony where it is widely corroborated, with the weight left to the court. Useful papers for this ground include any maintenance judgment, the execution file showing the grace period, and records proving the husband's imprisonment or absence.

Article 45 classifies separation under article 43 as a minor irrevocable talaq, so the couple can only reunite by a new contract. A waiting period follows, with its own maintenance, covered on the waiting-period maintenance page.

Spouses who have chosen the rulings of the Ja'fari school, an option opened by paragraph 3 of article 2 as amended by Law No. 1 of 2025, have their case decided under those rulings wherever they address the point.

Maintenance articles suspended in the Region

Notes in the Iraqi Legislation Database record that articles 23, 29 and 30 were suspended in the Kurdistan Region by Law No. 15 of 2008, so maintenance and separation claims before the Region's courts are read against the regional text.

Legal basis and sources

Frequently asked questions

Can the claim be filed as soon as payments stop?

Yes, but under item 7 of article 43 the court gives the husband up to sixty days before deciding.

If the husband is in prison, must the wife wait for his release?

No. Item 8 allows separation where maintenance cannot be collected because he was sentenced to more than a year.

Are arrears lost after separation?

No. Under article 32 they survive divorce and death.

Always check the text in force and its amendments in the official source.

To ask about your matter

Call +964 770 848 7526 WhatsApp Email

Separation for non-support under Iraqi law