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Marriage and Divorce Act - Malaysia PDF
Marriage and Divorce Act - Malaysia PDF
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Act 164
PUBLISHED BY
THE COMMISSIONER OF LAW REVISION, MALAYSIA
UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE REVISION OF LAWS ACT 1968
IN COLLABORATION WITH
PERCETAKAN NASIONAL MALAYSIA BHD
2006
Laws of Malaysia
ACT 164
...
6 March 1976
11 March 1976
PREVIOUS REPRINTS
First Reprint
Second Reprint
Third Reprint
1981
1997
2001
LAWS OF MALAYSIA
Act 164
LAW REFORM (MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE)
ACT 1976
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Section
1.
2.
Interpretation
3.
Application
4.
5.
6.
7.
Offence
8.
Continuance of marriage
PART III
MARRIAGE
Restrictions on marriage
9.
10.
11.
Prohibited relationships
12.
Requirement of consent
Laws of Malaysia
ACT 164
Preliminaries to marriage
Section
13.
14.
Notice of marriage
15.
Publication of notice
16.
17.
18.
19.
Caveat
20.
21.
Licence
Solemnization of marriages
22.
Solemnization of marriages
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
Registration
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
Unlawful registers
33.
34.
35.
36.
Contravention of section 32
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
Correction of errors
45.
46.
Proof
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
Proof of breakdown
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
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ACT 164
Section
60.
Hearing of petition
61.
62.
63.
64.
Judicial separation
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
Assessment of maintenance
79.
80.
Compounding of maintenance
81.
82.
83.
84.
Section
85.
86.
87.
Meaning of child
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
99.
100.
101.
102.
Power for court to set aside and prevent dispositions intended to defeat
claims to maintenance
103.
104.
105.
106.
107.
108.
109.
Repeal
SCHEDULE
Laws of Malaysia
ACT 164
LAWS OF MALAYSIA
Act 164
LAW REFORM (MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE)
ACT 1976
An Act to provide for monogamous marriages and the solemnization
and registration of such marriages; to amend and consolidate the
law relating to divorce; and to provide for matters incidental thereto.
*[Throughout Malaysia1 March 1982,
P.U. (B) 73/1982]
BE IT ENACTED by the Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan
Agong with the advice and consent of the Dewan Negara and
Dewan Rakyat in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of
the same, as follows:
PART I
PRELIMINARY
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ACT 164
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(4) This Act shall not apply to any native of Sabah or Sarawak
or any aborigine of Peninsular Malaysia whose marriage and divorce
is governed by native customary law or aboriginal custom unless
(a) he elects to marry under this Act;
(b) he contracted his marriage under the Christian Marriage
Ordinance [Sabah Cap. 24]; or
(c) he contracted his marriage under the Church and Civil
Marriage Ordinance [Sarawak Cap. 92].
Subsisting valid marriages deemed to be registered under this
Act and dissoluble only under this Act
4. (1) Nothing in this Act shall affect the validity of any marriage
solemnized under any law, religion, custom or usage prior to the
appointed date.
(2) Such marriage, if valid under the law, religion, custom or
usage under which it was solemnized, shall be deemed to be
registered under this Act.
(3) Every such marriage, unless void under the law, religion,
custom or usage under which it was solemnized, shall continue
until dissolved
(a) by the death of one of the parties;
(b) by order of a court of competent jurisdiction; or
(c) by a decree of nullity made by a court of competent
jurisdiction.
PART II
MONOGAMOUS MARRIAGES
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Restrictions on marriage
Persons by whom marriages may be solemnized
9. A marriage under this Act may be solemnized only by a
Registrar.
*NOTEThe Extradition Ordinance 1958 [Ord. 2 of 1958] and the Commonwealth Fugitive
Criminals Act 1967 [Act 54 of 1967] has since been repealed by the Extradition Act 1992
[Act 479]see section 54 of Act 479.
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Prohibited relationships
11. (1) No person shall marry his or her grandparent, parent,
child or grandchild, sister or brother, great-aunt or great-uncle,
aunt or uncle, niece or nephew, great-niece or great-nephew, as the
case may be:
Provided that nothing in this subsection shall prohibit any person
who is a Hindu from marrying under Hindu law or custom his
sisters daughter (niece) or her motherss brother (uncle).
(2) No person shall marry the grandparent or parent, child or
grandchild of his or her spouse or former spouse.
(3) No person shall marry the former spouse of his or her
grandparent or parent, child or grandchild.
(4) No person shall marry a person whom he or she has adopted
or by whom he or she has been adopted.
(5) For the purposes of this section, relationship of the half
blood is as much an impediment as relationship of the full blood
and it is immaterial whether a person was born legitimate or
illegitimate.
(6) The Chief Minister may in his discretion, notwithstanding
this section, grant a licence under this section for a marriage to
be solemnized if he is satisfied that such marriage is unobjectionable
under the law, religion, custom or usage applicable to the parties
thereto and, where such marriage is solemnized under such licence,
such marriage shall be deemed to be valid.
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Requirement of consent
12. (1) A person who has not completed his or her twenty-first
year shall, notwithstanding that he or she shall have attained the
age of majority as prescribed by the Age of Majority Act 1971
[Act 21], nevertheless be required, before marrying, to obtain the
consent in writing
(a) of his or her father;
(b) if the person is illegitimate or his or her father is dead,
of his or her mother;
(c) if the person is an adopted child, of his or her adopted
father, or if the adopted father is dead, of his or her
adopted mother; or
(d) if both his or her parents (natural or adopted) are dead,
of the person standing in loco parentis to him or her
before he or she attains that age,
but in any other case no consent shall be required.
(2) Where the court is satisfied that the consent of any person
to a proposed marriage is being withheld unreasonably or all those
persons who could give consent under subsection (1) are dead or
that it is impracticable to obtain such consent, the court may, on
application, give consent and such consent shall have the same
effect as if it had been given by the person whose consent was
required by subsection (1).
(3) An application to the High Court under this section shall be
made to a Judge in chambers.
(4) When an application is made to the High Court in consequence
of a refusal to give consent, notice of the application shall be
served upon the person who refused to give consent.
(5) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Part consent
to the marriage of a minor shall not be necessary if the minor has
been previously married.
(6) There shall be no appeal from an order of a Judge under this
section.
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Preliminaries to marriage
Non-application of sections 14 to 20 inclusive to certain parties
to a marriage
13. Sections 14 to 20 inclusive shall not apply to parties to a
marriage to be solemnized in accordance with section 24.
Notice of marriage
14. Whenever any person desire to marry in Malaysia each of the
parties to the intended marriage shall sign and give a notice in the
prescribed form in person to the Registrar of the marriage district
in which such party has been resident for the period of seven days
immediately preceding the giving of such notice:
Provided that when both the parties have been resident for the
required period in the same marriage district only one such notice
need be given by them.
Publication of notice
15. Upon receipt of such notice, the Registrar shall cause such
notice to be published by posting a copy in a conspicuous place
in his office visible to the public and shall keep the same so posted
up until he grants his certificate under section 17 or until three
months have elapsed, whichever is the earlier.
Declaration to accompany notice
16. (1) Every notice required to be given under section 14 shall
be accompanied by a written declaration
(a) that one or both the parties to the intended marriage has
been resident in the marriage district for the period of
seven days immediately preceding the giving of such
notice;
(b) either
(i) that each of the parties is twenty-one years of age
or over, or, if not, is a widower or widow, as the
case may be; or
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Registration
27. The marriage of every person ordinarily resident in Malaysia
and of every person resident abroad who is a citizen of or domiciled
in Malaysia after the appointed date shall be registered pursuant
to this Act.
Appointment of Registrar General, Registrars and Assistant
Registrars of Marriages
28. (1) The Yang di-Pertuan Agong may appoint any public officer
to be Registrar General of Marriages for the purposes of this Act
who shall have general supervision and control of Registrars and
of the registration of marriages under this Act and any other public
officer to be Deputy Registrar General of Marriages.
(2) The Minister may appoint so many public officers by name
or by office, to be
(a) Assistant Registrar General of Marriages;
(b) Superintendent Registrars of Marriages; and
(c) Registrars of Marriages and Deputy Registrars of Marriages
for such marriage district in any State and the Federal
Territory as may be specified in the appointment.
(3) The Minister may, in addition, appoint by name or by office,
any person whether public officer or not, to be Assistant Registrar
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Proof
46. Every marriage register kept under this Act and any copy of
such entry certified by the Registrar shall be prima facie evidence
of the dates and acts contained in such marriage register.
Damaged registers
46A. (1) The Registrar General may cause the entries of any marriage
register found to be damaged, mutilated or illegible to be transferred
to a new marriage register.
(2) The Registrar General may
(a) cause any or all marriage registers to be photographed on
microfilms; or
(b) cause particulars in any or all marriage registers to be
recorded on computers or in any other manner or form
he thinks fit, subject to such precautions as he considers
necessary in the interest of its safety and the privacy of
the information.
Missing register
46B. Where any marriage register is for any reason missing or
destroyed and the Registrar General is satisfied from evidence
adduced that any marriage was registered, he may cause such
marriage to be re-registered.
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PART VI
DIVORCE
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54 the court may give the respondent the relief to which the
respondent would have been entitled if the respondent had presented
a petition seeking that relief.
Decree nisi and proceedings thereafter
61. (1) Every decree of divorce shall in the first instance be a
decree nisi and shall not be made absolute before the expiration
of three months from its grant unless the court by general or
special order from time to time fixes a shorter period.
(2) Where a decree nisi of divorce has been granted and no
application for it to be made absolute has been made by the party
to whom it was granted, then, at any time after the expiration of
three months from the earliest date on which that party could have
made such an application, the party against whom it was granted
may make an application to the court and on that application the
court may
(a) notwithstanding the provisions of the last foregoing
subsection, make the decree absolute;
(b) rescind the decree nisi;
(c) require further inquiry; or
(d) otherwise deal with the case as it thinks fit.
Remarriage of divorced persons
62.
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only as respects any time after the coming into operation of the
decree, and the marriage shall, notwithstanding the decree, be
treated as if it had existed up to that time.
Collusion not to be bar to relief in cases of nullity
74. Collusion shall cease to be a bar to the granting of a decree
of nullity.
Legitimacy where nullity decree made
75. (1) Where a decree of nullity is granted in respect of a voidable
marriage, any child who would have been the legitimate child of
the parties to the marriage if at the date of the decree it had been
dissolved instead of being annulled shall be deemed to be their
legitimate child.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, the child of a void
marriage shall be treated as the legitimate child of his parent if,
at the time of the solemnization of the marriage, both or either of
the parties reasonably believed that the marriage was valid.
(3) Subsection (2) applies
(a) only where the father of the child was domiciled in Malaysia
at the time of the marriage; and
(b) in so far as it affects the devolution of any property only
to children born after the appointed date.
(4) This section does not affect any rights under the intestacy
of a person who died before the appointed date, and does not affect
the operation or construction of any disposition coming into operation
before the appointed date.
(5) Notwithstanding section 6 of the Legitimacy Act 1961 all
children who are deemed legitimate at birth by virtue of the provisions
of this section shall be so treated in all respects and not as persons
legitimated at the date of the marriage or of the Legitimacy Act
1961 [Act 60] as provided therein.
(6) Any person claiming otherwise than in a petition for a
declaration of nullity of the relevant marriage that a child shall be
treated as the legitimate child of his parents by virtue of subsection
(3) may apply for a decree to that effect and section 5 of the
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Assessment of maintenance
78. In determining the amount of any maintenance to be paid by
a man to his wife or former wife or by a woman to her husband
or former husband, the court shall base its assessment primarily
on the means and needs of the parties, regardless of the proportion
such maintenance bears to the income of the husband or wife as
the case may be, but shall have regard to the degree of responsibility
which the court apportions to each party for the breakdown of the
marriage.
Power for court to order security for maintenance
79. The court may in its discretion when awarding maintenance
order the person liable to pay such maintenance to secure the
whole or any part of it by vesting any property in trustees upon
trust to pay such maintenance or part thereof out of the income
from such property and, subject thereto, in trust for the settlor.
Compounding of maintenance
80. An agreement for the payment, in money or other property,
of a capital sum in settlement of all future claims to maintenance,
shall not be effective until it has been approved, or approved
subject to conditions, by the court, but when so approved shall be
a good defence to any claim for maintenance.
Duration of orders for maintenance
81. Except where an order for maintenance is expressed to be for
any shorter period or where any such order has been rescinded,
and subject to section 82, an order for maintenance shall expire
(a) if the maintenance was unsecured, on the death of the
husband or of the wife, whichever is the earlier;
(b) if the maintenance was secured, on the death of the spouse
in whose favour it was made.
Right to maintenance to cease on remarriage
82. (1) The right of any divorced person to receive maintenance
from his or her former spouse under any order of court shall cease
on his or her marriage to or living in adultery with any other
person.
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Meaning of child
87. In this Part, wherever the context so requires, child has the
meaning of child of the marriage as defined in section 2 who
is under the age of eighteen years.
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(2) Where an order has been made under subsection (1), and
has not been rescinded, the parent thereby declared to be unfit
shall not, on the death of the other person, be entitled to the
custody of such child unless the court otherwise orders.
Custody of children deemed legitimate
91. When a child is deemed to be legitimate under section 75,
the mother shall, in the absence of any agreement or order of court
to the contrary, be entitled to custody of the child.
Duty to maintain children
92. Except where an agreement or order of court otherwise provides,
it shall be the duty of a parent to maintain or contribute to the
maintenance of his or her children, whether they are in his or her
custody or the custody of any other person, either by providing
them with such accommodation, clothing, food and education as
may be reasonable having regard to his or her means and station
in life or by paying the cost thereof.
Power for court to order maintenance for children
93. (1) The court may at any time order a man to pay maintenance
for the benefit of his child
(a) if he has refused or neglected reasonably to provide for
the child;
(b) if he has deserted his wife and the child is in her charge;
(c) during the pendency of any matrimonial proceedings; or
(d) when making or subsequent to the making of an order
placing the child in the custody of any other person.
(2) The court shall have the corresponding power to order a
woman to pay or contribute towards the maintenance of her child
where it is satisfied that having regard to her means it is reasonable
so to order.
(3) An order under subsection (1) or (2) may direct payment to
the person having custody or care and control of the child or
trustees for the child.
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Other reliefs
Power for court to set aside and prevent dispositions intended
to defeat claims to maintenance
102. (1) Where
(a) any matrimonial proceeding is pending;
(b) an order has been made under section 76 and has not
been complied with;
(c) an order for maintenance has been made under section
77 or 93 and has not been rescinded; or
(d) maintenance is payable under any agreement to or for the
benefit of a spouse or former spouse or child,
the court shall have power on application
(i) if it is satisfied that any disposition of property has been
made by the spouse or former spouse or parent of the
person by or on whose behalf the application is made,
within the preceding three years, with the object on the
part of the person making the disposition of reducing his
or her means to pay maintenance or of depriving his or
her spouse of any rights in relation to that property, to
set aside the disposition; and
(ii) if it is satisfied that any disposition of property is intended
to be made with any such object, to grant an injunction
preventing that disposition.
(2) For the purposes of this section
disposition includes a sale, gift, lease, mortgage or any other
transaction whereby ownership or possession of the property is
transferred or encumbered but does not include a disposition made
for money or moneys worth to or in favour of a person acting in
good faith and in ignorance of the object with which the disposition
is made;
property means property of any nature, movable or immovable,
and includes money.
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PART IX
MISCELLANEOUS
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SCHEDULE
[Section 109]
PENINSULAR MALAYSIA
Ordinances and Acts
Short Title
Extent of Repeal
No. 44 of 1952
Whole
No. 53 of 1952
Registration of Marriages
Ordinance 1952
In so far as it
applies to persons
whose marriages
are registrable
under this Act
No. 74 of 1952
Whole
No. 33 of 1956
Whole
Act 60
Subsection 3(2)
No. 36 of 1950
Whole
Sarawak Cap. 92
Whole
Sarawak Cap. 94
Whole
Sabah No. 7 of
1963
Whole
Sabah Cap. 24
Whole
Sabah No. 14 of
1959
Whole
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Laws of Malaysia
ACT 164
LAWS OF MALAYSIA
Act 164
LAW REFORM (MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE)
ACT 1976
LISTS OF AMENDMENTS
Amending law
Short title
In force from
Act 160
29-08-1975
Act A327
31-03-1976
Act 92
01-06-1981
Act A498
01-03-1982
Act A650
16-05-1986
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LAWS OF MALAYSIA
Act 164
LAW REFORM (MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE)
ACT 1976
LISTS OF SECTIONS AMENDED
Section
Amending authority
In force from
Act A498
01-03-1982
Act A498
01-03-1982
Act A498
01-03-1982
Act A650
16-05-1986
Act A650
16-05-1986
Act A498
01-03-1982
12
Act A498
01-03-1982
14
Act A498
01-03-1982
15
Act A498
01-03-1982
21
Act A498
01-03-1982
26
Act A650
16-05-1986
28
Act A498
01-03-1982
30
Act A498
01-03-1982
31
Act A498
01-03-1982
32
Act A498
01-03-1982
33
Act A498
01-03-1982
44
Act A498
01-03-1982
45
Act A498
01-03-1982
46
Act A498
01-03-1982
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ACT 164
Section
Amending authority
In force from
46A
Act A498
01-03-1982
46B
Act A498
01-03-1982
51
Act A498
01-03-1982
52
Act A498
01-03-1982
58
Act A498
01-03-1982
69
Act A498
01-03-1982
75
Act A498
01-03-1982
108
Act A498
01-03-1982
109
Act A498
01-03-1982
Schedule
Act A498
01-03-1982
DICETAK OLEH
PERCETAKAN NASIONAL MALAYSIA BERHAD,
KUALA LUMPUR
BAGI PIHAK DAN DENGAN PERINTAH KERAJAAN MALAYSIA