Saudi couples may have to pass test to get married: report

 Aiming to reduce the number of family disputes, Saudi Arabia is studying a proposal to make it mandatory for all couples to have premarital family management licenses.

The purpose of the move is to provide couples with the skills and knowledge needed to solve disputes when they are married, according to a report in the Arabic daily Al-Watan.

Marriage and family disputes currently account for 60 per cent of all court cases in the country and couples currently have to undergo premarital medical checkups as a condition for marriage.

If the proposal is adopted, official registrars of marriage will not be able to marry a couple who do not have this license, the report said.

Saudi Justice Minister Muhammad Al-Issa said his ministry was studying new procedures, including new legislation, to reduce the number of family disputes.
Sheikh Mansour Al-Qafari, an adviser to the Minister of Justice, told Al-Watan that a proposal is being studied.

"The ministry will be responsible for ensuring that official registrars of marriage do not conclude a marriage contract without seeing the license," he said.
The ministry will draw up recommendations that would be sent to the relevant authorities, he said.

Once they are approved, the ministry will be responsible for issuing licenses to those couples who qualify.

Al-Qafari said a number of ministries will work together to offer the courses.
He said the Ministry of Justice had previously signed a MoU with the Ministry of Social Affairs on issues related to family management and family violence.