What maintenance is due to a divorced wife and a five-year-old daughter in Tunisia?

Answer by the AvoConsulte editorial team

This answer covers Tunisian law. In Tunisia there is no fixed amount and no table: the judge sets maintenance according to the payer's means, the needs of the person entitled and the cost of living.

The daughter's maintenance

The father remains responsible for supporting his daughter after the divorce. Maintenance covers food, clothing, housing, schooling and whatever is considered necessary by custom. A daughter remains entitled as long as she has no income of her own and is not supported by a husband. The amount can be revised if circumstances change. Outside pending divorce proceedings, a maintenance claim is filed with the district court (justice cantonale) where you or the other parent lives, and a lawyer is not mandatory.

The former wife's rights

• Maintenance during the waiting period: the husband must support his former wife during the waiting period (idda).
• Divorce annuity: in a divorce for harm or by unilateral will, the court compensates the material and moral harm caused by the divorce. For the wife, material harm is compensated by a monthly annuity after the idda, set according to the standard of living she had during the marriage, housing included, or, if she chooses, by a lump sum paid once. The annuity ends in particular on her death, on remarriage or when she no longer needs it.

In a divorce by mutual consent, the consequences are usually settled by the spouses' agreement, under the judge's supervision.

If he does not pay

A person ordered to pay maintenance or an annuity who deliberately fails to pay for a month is prosecuted for abandonment of family. If enforcement fails, the guarantee fund for maintenance and divorce annuities, run by the CNSS (social security fund), can step in, provided in particular that there is a judgment and a complaint for abandonment of family.

If the marriage or divorce took place abroad

When the marriage, the divorce or one spouse's residence is outside Tunisia, the applicable law and the competent court may differ, and a foreign judgment may need an exequatur to be enforced in Tunisia. See a lawyer before taking action.

This answer was written by the AvoConsulte editorial team and gives general information only: it is not legal advice. For your own situation, consult a lawyer.

Sources

1. Code du Statut Personnel – Livre IV. De l'obligation alimentaire Jurisite Tunisie
2. النفقة وزارة العدل – الجمهورية التونسية
3. جراية الطلاق وزارة العدل – الجمهورية التونسية
4. Intervention du fonds de garantie de la pension alimentaire et de la rente de divorce Idaraty – portail des procédures administratives