Family
The 2004 Moudawana, the region's most-cited personal status reform
The 2004 Family Code raised the marriage age to 18, made polygamy subject to judicial authorisation, replaced male guardianship with joint responsibility, and moved divorce under court supervision.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Family divisions of the courts of first instance. The Code applies to Moroccan Muslims and, with modifications, to Moroccan Jews under Hebraic personal status rules.
- Deadline — Reconciliation attempts are a mandatory stage in divorce proceedings
- Deadline — Judicial divorce for irreconcilable difference (chiqaq) must be resolved within six months
Governing law
- Family Code (Moudawana), Law 70-032004
- Law 79-14 on the Authority for Parity and the Fight against All Forms of Discrimination
- Law 103-13 on violence against women2018
In practice
The Moudawana is the most consequential family law reform in the Arab world because it did not merely adjust ages and grounds; it reframed the marriage as a joint responsibility and required judicial authorisation for acts that had been unilateral male prerogatives. Polygamy remains lawful but requires a judge to find exceptional justification and to hear the existing wife, which has reduced it to a small residue in practice. The chiqaq divorce route, available to either spouse for irreconcilable difference with a six-month resolution requirement, is now the dominant path and was the practical innovation. Enforcement of maintenance remained the weak point, addressed later through a family solidarity fund. A further revision process was announced in 2023 and is ongoing, so the Code should be checked against current amendments.