Pennsylvania appeals court upholds Islamic triple talaq divorce under Nigerian law

In a recent decision from the Pennsylvania Superior Court, a three-judge panel affirmed a trial court's ruling that a marriage was void ab initio because the wife was still legally married to another man at the time of the ceremony.

The case, Adewale v. Adewale, was decided by Judge Correale Stevens, joined by Judges Anne Lazarus and Jack Panella.

Background

The parties were married on April 21, 2011, in Lagos, Nigeria, under Nigerian statutory law. The wife had become a U.S. citizen after receiving a Diversity Visa through the lottery program in 1999. She filed for her husband's entry into the United States as her spouse in 2012, and he joined her in April 2013. Both parties are now dual citizens of Nigeria and the United States.

Key Legal Issue

During the divorce proceedings, the husband began to question the validity of the marriage after discovering that the wife may have been married to another person at the time of their 2011 wedding.

The trial court recognized that "the law of the state in which a marriage is celebrated governs the validity of the marriage." As the court noted:

"[I]f a marriage is invalid under the laws of the state wherein it was celebrated it will not be recognized elsewhere, regardless of the laws of the present domiciliary state or of the forum."

The court further stated that "a marriage which satisfies the requirements of the state where the marriage was contracted will everywhere be recognized as valid unless it violates the strong public policy of another state."

Evidence Presented

The trial court took extensive evidence on the matter. Key testimony included:

• Husband's case: The husband claimed the marriage should be invalidated because the wife was still married to William Lasisi when she married him in 2011. Lasisi testified that he had married the wife in 2001 in Lagos, Nigeria, and still believed she was his spouse. He presented a wedding certificate and photographs from the 2001 ceremony.

• Expert testimony: Dr. Olubukoli Adewemi Olugasa, the husband's expert in Nigerian marital law, opined that the marriage was invalid under Nigerian statutory law because the wife was still married to Lasisi by customary marriage, which had not been dissolved.

• Wife's case: The wife offered testimony from Judge Surajudeen Onigbanjo (State High Court of Lagos, Nigeria) and Judge Iris Abdullahi Haroon (retired Grand Kadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal in Kwara State). Both asserted they did not believe the wife's marriage to Lasisi was valid, as the husband failed to present evidence that a dowry or sadaq was paid.

• Alternative argument: The wife claimed she had never married Lasisi, as their relationship "soured." Alternatively, she argued that even if the marriage existed, she and Lasisi had divorced in 2006 through a family meeting in which Lasisi told her "I divorce you" three times. Judge Haroon indicated that this verbal declaration, known as triple talaq, is a recognized procedure for a husband to obtain a divorce in an Islamic marriage.

Trial Court Findings

On January 16, 2025, the trial court entered orders declaring the marriage void ab initio, terminating the husband's alimony pendente lite obligations, and setting the husband's support arrears balance to zero.

The trial court based its ruling on several factual findings:

1. The wife married Lasisi on September 1, 2001, pursuant to Nigerian traditional/customary law as well as Islamic law.
2. The wife had not shown that her marriage to Lasisi was dissolved at the time of her marriage to the husband in 2011.

The appellate court affirmed the trial court's decision.

Note: Nigeria has a plural legal system where different legal systems (statutory law, customary law, and Islamic law) apply to different communities. Similar systems exist in other countries, including Israel.