Dower contract breach confirmed by NZ court

A woman has won the right to have about $215,000 paid to her as part of her marriage contract from the United Arab Emirates.

It was the first time a case had come before the courts relating to the payment of a dower set out in a marriage contract solemnised under sharia law in the UAE.

The pair married in the UAE, under Islamic or sharia law, in December 2013.

A dower is a payment from a husband to a wife, while a dowry is from the wife to the husband.

Under the marriage contract signed in Dubai, Rafid Salih, a Wellington dentist, was to pay Rahla Hussein Amin Harder Almarzooqi a dower of about $12,000 at the start of their marriage.

If they divorced, he was to pay a deferred dower of $212,095.

The marriage quickly broke down on their return to New Zealand and Almarzooqi sought a divorce through the UAE court claiming abuse, which was granted. It also ordered the payment of the dower – or mahr – to her.

In 2019, she filed a claim in the High Court at Wellington asking for the UAE judgment to be enforced here, and for payment of the deferred dower.

Justice Simon France had to decide which jurisdiction – New Zealand or UAE – the marriage contract would come under.

He said yesterday in the High Court that he considered the proper law of the contract was UAE, as the couple had travelled there to be married in accordance with a particular tradition.

He said the UAE court ordered the payment of the mahr and while it was not enforceable in New Zealand, it was evident that the Dubai court considered that the divorce triggered the mahr obligation.

‘‘The firm view of the Dubai lawyers [who gave evidence] was that there is no connection between the process or grounds of divorce, and the obligation to pay the mahr,’’ Justice France said.

‘‘Both asserted this without qualification, saying that in the UAE the obligation to pay the mahr arose on the fact of divorce.

‘‘It follows that if the proper law of the contract is UAE law, the mahr has been payable since 1 November 2016. Mr Salih has not paid it and is in breach of the contract.’’

The judge said Almarzooqi has proved a breach by Salih of an obligation to pay the mahr. That would now include interest since it had been payable since 2016.