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Fatwa CenterHer husband neglected to mention her in his work contract
Question
I am a wife and a mother of 2, my husband working abroad. I found out that in his work contract he put his mother and the 2 kids as dependent. What will i do? i am helpless he did not consider me as a wife. If that is the case, can i have the reason to get an annullment?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
What counts is not what is written by the husband in his work contract, but rather it is the actual spending arrangement that counts. If he does what is due on him as regards spending on you, then this is what is required from him, and you have no right to ask for divorce. But if he does not spend on you while being capable of doing so, in this case, you have the right to ask for divorce. If he is insolvent, the matter is debatable among scholars who differ as to whether or not the woman could ask for divorce because of her husband's incapability of spending on her; and the opinion of the majority of scholars is that she has the right to ask for divorce. It is narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah 
that the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “If a man becomes too insolvent to spend on his wife, they should be separated.” [Ad-Daaraqutni and Al-Bayhaqi]
Ibn Al-Munthir 
said, “It is proven that ‘Umar sent a message to the army commanders that they (the soldiers) should spend (on their wives), otherwise, they should release them.”
The Fiqh Encyclopedia reads, “The woman has the right to ask to be separated from her husband if he is unable to spend on her. If he refuses to do so, the judge should then separate between them. This opinion is adopted by the Maaliki scholars, it is also the predominant opinion among the Shaafi‘i scholars, and the correct one among the Hanbali scholars. This separation is considered as Faskh (i.e. an annulment of marriage) according to the Shaafi‘i and Hanbali scholars, and is a revocable divorce according to the Maaliki scholars. This is reported from ‘Umar, Abu Hurayrah and Ibn ‘Umar 
and adopted by Sa‘eed ibn Al-Musayyab, Al-Hasan, Is-haaq, Abu Thawr and others 
all."
Allaah Knows best.
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