He pays 4,724 euros for his wife’s courses in Morocco, then claims the money back in the divorce: judge applies the Moudawana

The couple married in Morocco in 2022. The man holds Moroccan and Dutch nationalities, while his wife is Moroccan. After the wedding, she remained in Morocco until May 8, 2023, when she moved to the Netherlands.

Between August 2022 and April 2023, the wife took integration courses required to obtain her Dutch residence permit. Her husband claims to have paid a total of 4,724 euros and maintains that she had agreed to repay him. In the midst of the divorce, he therefore asked the court to order reimbursement.

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The woman denied that any such agreement existed. In its decision issued on August 18 and published on September 17 by the Midden-Nederland court, the judge found that the husband had provided no evidence capable of proving a promise of repayment.

The Dutch judge applies the Moudawana

Before examining the claim, the court had to determine whether Dutch or Moroccan law applied. The spouses had made no choice and had not established their first habitual residence together in the same country during the six months following their marriage: she was still living in Morocco, while he was already residing in the Netherlands.

The judge therefore applied the law corresponding to their shared nationality at the time of the marriage, namely Moroccan law. The application of Moroccan legislation in Dutch proceedings is not exceptional. Recently, another court had to take Moroccan law into account in a paternity-recognition case.

Article 194 of the Moudawana provides that the husband must support his wife during the marriage. In the court’s view, the integration courses fell precisely within these expenses: they were essential for the woman to obtain her residence permit and join her husband in the Netherlands.

The 4,724 euros therefore do not constitute a debt owed by the wife. Even in the absence of Article 194, the claim would have been rejected for lack of evidence of an agreement providing for repayment.

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The court ultimately pronounced the divorce and rejected the husband’s financial claim. It also set the couple’s daughter’s primary residence with her mother and decided that the father would pay her 261 euros per month in child support.