Family
Fifteen recognised personal status regimes and no civil marriage
Personal status is administered by the courts of eighteen recognised confessions applying their own law. There is no civil marriage in Lebanon, though civil marriages contracted abroad are registered and recognised.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — National, with jurisdiction determined entirely by the parties' registered confession rather than by residence or choice.
Governing law
- Law of 2 April 1951 on the personal status of non-Muslim communities
- Law of 16 July 1962 on Sunni and Ja'fari Sharia courts
- Decree No. 60 L.R. of 1936 on recognised religious communities
In practice
This is the most fragmented personal status system in the region: Sunni, Ja'fari, Druze, Maronite, Greek Orthodox, Armenian and other tribunals each apply distinct substantive rules on marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance, with different minimum ages and different outcomes on the same facts. There is no civil alternative domestically, so couples of different confessions, or who want no religious marriage, marry abroad — Cyprus being the usual destination — and register the marriage on return, where it is recognised and governed by the foreign law. Repeated attempts to introduce optional civil marriage have failed. Inheritance for Muslims follows Islamic rules; for Christians the 1959 law applies.