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On 1 May 2025 the Higher Islamic Sharia Council issued the Family Provisions Code (نظام أحكام الأسرة, Decision No. 13 of 19 April 2025, published in Official Gazette No. 19). It is the first comprehensive codified personal status law for Sunni Muslims in Lebanon: 453 articles across seven books covering marriage and its dissolution, kinship, legal capacity, bequests, interdiction, and inheritance. Before it, the Sunni sharia judge worked from the 1917 Ottoman Family Rights Law and the preponderant Hanafi view; today the Code is the binding reference before the Sunni Sharia Courts, and Hanafi doctrine applies only where the Code is silent. This guide sets out what the Code settles on the most common questions. It is an introductory guide and does not replace advice on a specific case.

What is new: codification for the first time

Sunni Muslims in Lebanon had no dedicated personal status code of their own, unlike most Arab and Muslim states. The governing law was split between the 1917 Ottoman Family Rights Law, scattered decisions of the Higher Islamic Sharia Council, and the preponderant Hanafi view for everything else. Decision No. 13 of 2025 gathers all of this into a single instrument, described in its own preamble as “a personal status law specific to the Sunni Muslims of Lebanon.”

The Code drew on several sources named in its explanatory memorandum: the 1917 Family Rights Law, the earlier 2011 Family Provisions regulation, Qadri Pasha’s compilation, Arab personal status codes, and the texts of all four Sunni schools. On some points it therefore adopted a non-Hanafi position where it found that more consonant with the interest at stake, as in the rule on half the mahr after valid seclusion, discussed below.

The Code’s force: binding, with Hanafi doctrine only as a gap-filler

The Code takes its binding force from Article 242 of the Law on the Organization of the Sharia Judiciary (of 16 July 1962), which requires the Sunni judge to rule in accordance with the decisions of the Higher Islamic Sharia Council on personal status, then the 1917 Family Rights Law where there is no text, then the preponderant view of Abu Hanifa. The Code sets out this order of priority expressly in its closing articles:

• Full binding force: the Code’s provisions have full binding force in all matters of the Muslim family over every contrary text, decision, or ruling of whatever kind or degree (Article 451 of the Family Provisions Code).
• Hanafi doctrine as a reserve: where the Code contains no text, the judge applies the preponderant view in the school of Imam Abu Hanifa (Article 452).
• Entry into force and repeal: the Code applies upon publication in the Official Gazette, and every text contrary to it is repealed by operation of law (Article 453).

The Code applies to cases still pending at first instance and on appeal, but not to cases already finally adjudicated (Article 450).

Which court hears the case?

The Sunni sharia judiciary consists of courts of first instance and a High Sharia Court for each of the Sunni and Jaafari communities, seated in Beirut (Articles 2 and 4 of the Law on the Organization of the Sharia Judiciary). Each community’s courts hear the disputes of litigants belonging to that community (Article 6 of the same Law). So personal status claims of Sunni Muslims are filed before the competent Sunni Sharia Court, and its rulings are appealed to the High Sharia Court.

Marriage: capacity, age, and mahr

Marriage age and capacity

Capacity to marry requires puberty and sound mind (Article 41 of the Family Provisions Code), and the Code surrounds the marriage of a minor with new safeguards:

• A firm minimum: the marriage of a minor who has not completed the age of fifteen is prohibited (Article 42).
• Judicial leave between fifteen and eighteen: a person who has completed fifteen may, with the guardian’s consent, apply to the sharia judge for leave to marry if physically and mentally fit, and the judge may decline to authorise the marriage of anyone under eighteen, male or female (Articles 41 and 43).
• Mandatory medical and psychological examination: minors undergo a medical and psychological examination by two specialists approved by the sharia courts, and the judge may annul a marriage contracted outside the court if the conditions are not met (Article 44).

Mahr

The mahr (dower) is a financial right of the wife that vests on the mere valid contract, with no minimum or maximum (Articles 92 and 93). The deferred portion falls due at the nearer of the two terms, final separation or death, unless otherwise agreed (Article 91). Among the points the Code settles here:

• Half the mahr before consummation: if divorce occurs before actual consummation, half the named mahr lapses (Article 102). The Code adopted the view of the majority of jurists, departing from the Hanafi position, requiring half the mahr, not all of it, on valid seclusion (khalwa) before consummation (Article 103).
• Gold-ounce valuation of a paper-currency mahr: where a mahr named in Lebanese paper currency in circulation before 1 January 1993 falls due, its value is assessed by the number of gold ounces on the date of the contract per the Banque du Liban records (Articles 117 to 119).

Dissolution of marriage: ṭalāq, khulʿ, and judicial separation

Marriage ends by ṭalāq (repudiation), annulment, judicial separation, or death (Article 150).

• Ṭalāq: the husband holds three repudiations (Article 164) and must notify the judge of the ṭalāq (Articles 166 and 167); three repudiations pronounced together, in one word or one sitting, count as three (Article 177).
• Khulʿ: the husband’s divorce of his wife in exchange for consideration, effecting a minor irrevocable divorce unless it completes the three; the consideration is not a condition of its validity (Articles 190, 191, and 196).
• Judicial separation for discord and strife: either spouse may seek separation for harm arising from discord and strife, and harm is anything leading to ill-treatment, such as beating, insult, coercion to the forbidden, or engaging in the forbidden (Article 210). A year of litigation and physical separation between the spouses is treated as harm giving rise to discord (Article 211). Where harm is established, the judge attempts reconciliation and grants the parties no less than one month, then appoints two arbitrators (Article 212); their report is not subject to appeal, though the court may adjust the apportionment of liability by a reasoned decision (Article 213). A ruling of separation on this basis is an irrevocable divorce (Article 215). A wife may also seek separation if the husband is imprisoned under a final ruling for a year or more (Article 214).

Custody, visitation, and maintenance

Custody age

This is among the questions the Code settled after long disagreement. The mother’s custody, as distinct from other female custodians, ends when the boy completes twelve and the girl completes fourteen solar years (Article 274). For custodians other than the mother it ends when the boy completes seven and the girl completes nine (Article 274). A custodian who is not of the child’s father’s religion loses custody when the child completes the age of five (Article 273). If custody ends before the end of the school year, it is extended by operation of law to the end of that year and its examinations (Article 275).

Travel and relocation with the child

The mother may not travel with the minor outside Lebanon except with the guardian’s written consent, notarised before a notary public or by a declaration notarised at the competent Sunni Sharia Court; the same restriction applies to the father and other guardians during the custody period, and the judge may in all cases prohibit or permit travel according to the child’s interest (Article 281). Likewise the custodian may not permanently relocate the child within Lebanon to a place other than the father’s town except with the same notarised consent, unless it is her original hometown where some of her maḥram relatives reside (Article 282).

Visitation

The parent who does not have the child has a right of visitation, and where the parents do not agree the judge fixes its time and place, not less than once a week (Article 288). Visitation may not take place in police or gendarmerie stations, court corridors, or any place contrary to morals and religious values (Article 293).

Maintenance of children, wife, and during the ʿidda

• Children’s maintenance: maintenance in its three forms, food, clothing, and housing, falls on the father for his poor young child, male or female, until the boy reaches the capacity to earn and can do so, and the girl marries (Article 298). It is owed even where the father is of limited means.
• Wife’s maintenance: it is owed to the wife by her husband on the mere valid contract and covers food, clothing, housing, and their accessories (Articles 125 and 126); it is awarded from the date the claim is filed, not the date of judgment, and no claim is heard for a period preceding the filing (Article 137).
• ʿidda maintenance: it is owed to the woman observing the ʿidda of a divorce or annulment, not of a death, and not to a disobedient wife (Article 236). It remains a subsisting right even if the ruling is late, provided an absent wife claims it within thirty days of being notified of the divorce, or within one month of a judicial-separation ruling becoming final (Article 237).

Remuneration for custody

In court practice the custodian mother may still claim remuneration for her custody, that is a fee owed to her for the service of custody itself, distinct from the child’s own maintenance, while the child is within the custody age. The Code, however, does not devote a specific text to remuneration for the custody of a healthy child; it provides for children’s maintenance owed by the father (Article 298), for a nursing remuneration that is not owed for more than two years (Article 265), and for a care remuneration assessed by the judge for a mentally ill or disabled child kept with the mother (Article 279). A claim for custody remuneration as such therefore rests, where the Code is silent, on the preponderant Hanafi view under Article 452, not on an express provision of the Code.

Establishing filiation: DNA admitted

Filiation is established by the marital bed, acknowledgment, and evidence (Article 244), and a wife’s child is affiliated to the husband if born at least six lunar months after the marriage contract (Article 245). Among the developments, the Code expressly admits establishing filiation by DNA testing alongside witness testimony and any evidence establishing filiation in law (Article 247).

How is a claim filed? Required documents

Personal status claims are filed before the competent Sunni Sharia Court by a petition stating the subject and grounds of the claim, with the necessary documents attached, and those documents differ by the type of claim. The following is a brief practical table of the most common claims and their basic customary documents, by way of guidance and not limitation (bearing in mind that the particulars of each case call for consulting specialists before filing):

There are further claims with their own documents, such as proving a marriage, proving filiation, engagement gifts, annulment of a marriage contract, guardianship, and seizure of assets.

A practical note: many circulating templates and references still cite the article numbers of the 2011 regulation or of the Law on the Organization of the Sharia Judiciary, because they predate the new codification. Most of the substance carried over into the 2025 Code unchanged, but the article numbers changed; when relying on a rule, use the 2025 Code article numbers cited above.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Sunni custody age after the 2025 Code?

The mother’s custody ends when the boy completes twelve and the girl completes fourteen solar years; for custodians other than the mother it ends at seven for the boy and nine for the girl (Article 274 of the Family Provisions Code).

May a minor marry?

Marriage of anyone under fifteen is prohibited outright. A person who has completed fifteen but not eighteen may apply to the sharia judge with the guardian’s consent; the judge may grant or refuse leave, and the minor undergoes a mandatory medical and psychological examination (Articles 41 to 44).

How long is ʿidda maintenance?

ʿidda maintenance for a divorced woman is assessed for three months and remains a subsisting right even if the ruling is late, provided it is claimed within the prescribed periods (Articles 236 and 237).

Which court hears the claim, and how is it appealed?

It is filed before the competent Sunni Sharia Court, and its rulings are appealed to the High Sharia Court, seated in Beirut (Articles 2 and 4 of the Law on the Organization of the Sharia Judiciary).

Is DNA testing accepted to establish filiation?

Yes, the Code admits establishing filiation by DNA testing alongside the other means of proof recognised in law (Article 247).

Conclusion

The 2025 Family Provisions Code marks a shift in the regulation of personal status for Sunni Muslims in Lebanon: for the first time the Sunni sharia judge has a comprehensive codified law to turn to instead of scattered sources. The Code settled long-disputed questions, from the custody age (twelve for the boy and fourteen for the girl with the mother) to the marriage age (prohibition below fifteen and judicial leave up to eighteen) to the admission of DNA in filiation. Hanafi doctrine remains a reserve reference for whatever the Code leaves unaddressed. Because many practices and templates have not yet caught up with the new Code’s article numbers, verifying the text in force before filing any claim is the safer course, and no general guide replaces legal advice on the specific case.

Related articles

• النسخة العربية (Arabic version): نظام أحكام الأسرة للطائفة السنية في لبنان (2025)
• Version française : Le nouveau Code du statut personnel sunnite (2025)
• Family and Divorce Lawsuits in Sharia Courts in Lebanon (FAQ)