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A victory for divorced woman in the South: Judicial decision orders alimony payment in USD
3-11-2020
The head of the Nabatiyeh Execution Division, Judge Ahmad Mezher, issued a verdict which was dubbed as a victory to divorced Lebanese women when he ordered the payment of the agreed alimony from the Jaafari Court in US dollars only. The judge insisted that the financial compensation should not be paid in Lebanese pounds according to Banque Du Liban exchange rate as so proposed the husband who filed the divorce suit, in view of the fluctuating purchasing power of the local currency. The objection submitted by the plaintiff indicated that the husband could no longer pay the alimony for his daughter who lives with her mother in hard currency (USD 200). He defended his argument with a number of laws that arrived at one conclusion: the creditor has no right to refuse payment in national currency and neither can he/she enforce payment in foreign currency. To this, Judge Mezher responded that the claims provided by the litigant are beyond question, yet the status quo in the country requires looking into the case from another perspective. The lawfulness of the case is not about the permissibility of paying an entitlement which is originally in hard currency in the currency of the country, Mezher argued. The problem arises when the defaulter deposits a sum of money in the Lebanese pound that is equivalent to the amount in the disorderly US dollar. Therefore, since it is inconvenient to deal with a devaluating banknote. And based on the fact that fiat money has no intrinsic value, payment in this currency becomes unsatisfactory as the debtor can no longer mollify the creditor’s right to be satisfactorily compensated. Mezher went on to say, that in the event the debtor decided to pay his dues in national currency because the US dollar is not available, he is entitled to pay in the Lebanese lira according to its exchange price in the free market on the agreed day of payment. It is worth mentioning, that the divorce petitioner has earlier file a lawsuit to the Jaafari Court in Nabatiyeh requesting a reduction of the alimony amount consistent with the dollar shortage crisis, but the said Court rejected the lawsuit, explaining that the decision was final and binding pending a new arrangement or agreement is reached between the two parties. (Al Akhbar, November 3, 2020)
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- العربية
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