Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli announced this week that the government has referred its new Personal Status Law to the House of Representatives for discussion and approval.
The bill includes the comprehensive regulation of personal status (family law) provisions, including matters of marriage, divorce, custody, visitation and hosting rights, and dowry and financial rights, as part of a legislative approach aimed at amending the existing law to secure the rights of both men and women and at the same time safeguard children’s interests.
The draft includes a set of regulations and procedures aimed at striking a balance between the rights and duties of both parties to the marital relationship, while promoting the principle of transparency and limiting any form of deception or concealment before the marriage contract is concluded.
Among the most prominent features of the draft law is the introduction of an annex to the marriage contract that includes prior agreements on the marital home and financial matters and making them directly enforceable.
The draft also provides for the establishment of a Family Support Fund to assist divorced women and children if the husband defaults on his obligations, the consolidation of alimony claims, and electronic visitation mechanisms to ensure a child’s right to the care of both parents when physical visitation is not possible.
With regard to alimony payments, the draft requires the relevant authorities to provide data on actual income, with rules for modifying payments after one year except in exceptional circumstances.
One of the most notable provisions of the draft is Article 7, which grants the wife the right to request the judicial annulment of the marriage contract within a period not exceeding six months from the date the contract was concluded, provided there is no pregnancy or childbirth, if it is proven that the husband made false claims and the marriage was concluded on that basis.
The draft also sets out special regulations for early divorce. It requires a husband who wishes to end a marriage during the first three years to go to the Family Court for Urgent Applications and submit an application accompanied by the necessary documents. The judge will then summon both parties to attempt a reconciliation, examine the reasons for the dispute, and conduct settlement sessions.
MP Ayman Mehasseb told Al-Ahram Weekly that meetings are being held to examine the government’s draft law, which has been referred to the relevant parliamentary committees. He said that the draft consists of three sections: the first concerns guardianship of persons and contains eight chapters; the second concerns guardianship of property and contains six chapters; and the third contains four chapters.
“The review will examine the texts in the light of the provisions of the constitution and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other relevant international agreements,” he said.
Meanwhile, MP Ahmed Khalil Khairallah said that “the draft law in its current form includes a number of provisions that are not based on clear legislative logic and do not reflect the expectations placed on it to achieve balance and justice among family members.”
Khairallah said the rules in Personal Status Law revolve around three main axes, foremost among them the age of custody, noting that no fundamental amendment has been made to this in the draft.
“The principle of allowing a child to choose between the father and the mother after the end of the age of custody still exists, despite objections from psychological specialists who believe it places severe psychological pressure on the child and puts him or her in an unbearable position between the parents.”
Khairallah said that “the only amendment that responds to the demands that were being made concerns the one on custody orders, where the mother ranks first, and custody then passes directly to the father if she loses it.”
Khairallah criticised the provision requiring the husband to submit an insurance policy in favour of the wife before the marriage contract is officially documented, in order to guarantee alimony or a financial sum in the event of an irrevocable or final divorce.
Regarding the women’s right to annul a marriage after six months in cases of “deception”, he said that “expanding the right to annulment could lead to higher divorce rates, especially since the article grants this option to the wife, but not equally to the husband.”
Kheirallah also expressed reservations about educational guardianship, explaining that “linking it to the custodial parent (usually the mother) without carefully addressing changes in custody could create unbalanced financial burdens and affect the stability of children’s educational paths if there are custodial transfers between the parents.”
Lawyer Badr Amin said that the draft law has a number of positive aspects, especially those related to children’s rights and strengthening the father’s role in care and upbringing.
Amin told the Weekly that one of the most positive points in the draft is the introduction of a “hosting” and overnight-stay system that allows the father to take an active role in raising and caring for his children within his family environment.
Amin considered this to be in the child’s interest, as it strengthens family ties and the relationship between the father and his children, instead of relying solely on the traditional visitation system, describing it as “one of the provisions that has had the most negative psychological and social impacts on the child.”
Lawyer and feminist Nehad Abul-Komsan, who is also head of the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights (ECWR), said that “the draft includes positive steps, especially in supporting certain enforcement measures against those who refuse to pay alimony, such as suspending some services or taking legal measures against them after final enforceable judgements are issued.”
She stressed that these measures would enhance the effectiveness of court rulings on the ground.
At the same time, the government has approved a draft personal status bill for Egyptian Christians and has also referred it to the House of Representatives. The bill applies to six main Christian denominations in Egypt — Coptic Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Coptic Evangelical, and Catholic.
In a legal precedent, it requires those intending to marry to submit an insurance policy guaranteeing the wife financial rights or monthly alimony payments in cases of divorce or the annulment of a marriage.
It also provides that, in matters not specifically addressed by the law, reference should be made to the religious rules of each church concerned, provided that these do not violate other legal provisions.
The six main official churches in Egypt have agreed on the articles of the bill, among them provisions related to inheritance, especially those concerning equality in inheritance between men and women, in an attempt to reduce prolonged legal disputes before the courts.
Unlike for Muslims, these provisions are consistent with Christian principles, under which an estate can be divided equally among sons and daughters, even in cases where there are no male children.
At the same time, the draft law distinguishes between cases of annulment linked to the concealment of essential information affecting the validity of the relationship and what is known as “civil dissolution”, where each denomination has its own doctrinal rules.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 14 May, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
Short link: