• The person initiating divorce has to fill up the “Request for divorce Form” available at the family court.  The form is 16 pages long and very comprehensive.
• After the form has been submitted to the court the two parties should be called up for a first hearing within 5 days. However due to backlog of cases it could take a month after the submission of the form. Nobody else is allowed into this hearing apart from the husband and wife.
• If one party is contesting the divorce the couple would be referred to the counselor/mediator at the family court.
• Only one counseling session is conducted unless the case involves serious problems in which case 2 sessions are arranged.  The counselor/mediator writes up a report on the proceedings. Family members or friends of the two concerned parties can take part in these sessions. Usually, the first sessions is conducted 3 days after the divorce has been contested in court.
• The magistrate then decides whether to grant a divorce or not based on the report. However the final decision is made by the magistrate himself.
• If the magistrate feels that the couple can be reconciled then they would be asked to compromise and seek reconciliation.
• If the initiating party once again wants a divorce then, he/she can file for a divorce again 3 months after the last request for divorce. No matter concerning the couple will be admissible in court during these three months.
• In case of divorce the husband is asked to full-fill his obligations to the former wife, and provide food, shelter and other basic provisions during the ‘idhah’ period (first 3 months after divorce).
• A woman can file for divorce on the grounds of violence or the husband forcing her to do something that is illegal or prohibited by religion. In such cases if the woman is able to demonstrate the husband’s actions to the satisfaction of the court then the magistrate would grant a divorce.
• Evidence permissible by court are confessions by the guilty party, police reports about the case and detailed medical reports casting reasonable doubts about the injuries being caused by any other person other than the husband.

• In case of divorce all the children who are below 7 years are given to the custody of the mother as long as she remains unmarried to anybody else, unless she is declared an unfit mother by the court.
• If the mother is declared unfit or marries someone else, then the court can take the children away from the mother and hand them over to the maternal grandmother and if not is given to the care of the paternal grandmother and so on following the patrilineal or matrilineal descendents as proclaimed by the Islamic religion.  
• Once the children are over 7 years the parent who wants custody can file for it by filling up the “Request for Child Custody” form available at the family court. The first hearing could be anytime between 5 days and a month and if the magistrate finds both as fit parents the couple is called up for a second hearing. This time the child is brought up to the hearing and asked to choose which parent he/she wants to live with. Apart from the mother, father, the child and the magistrate nobody else is allowed into this hearing. The magistrate declares who the child would live with based on the child’s choice.
• The parent, who doesn’t get custody, gets visitation rights.
• If the custodial parent refuses the visitation rights after the court has declared it, then the contesting parent can again file the case to the court. The refusal to allow visitation rights by the custodial parent is treated as refusing to follow a judgment of the court.

• If the father of the children is refusing basic provisions for them then the wife can file for child support by filling up the “Request for child support form” available at the family court.

The couple would be called up for a hearing any time between 5 days and a month and the father would be ordered to pay the child support due till the children are 16 years old. The child support includes provision of a specific amount to the custodial parent each month as well as providing the child’s clothing, and meeting educational and medical needs. Although the court orders the father to pay child support until the child is 16, the father is obliged to make these provisions to the child even after the child turns 16. If a second complaint about the child support comes forth to the court by the mother, then the court would inform the father’s office (if he is a civil servant), to deduct the money from his salary and have the money delivered to the court.