Family Law
Family Law
This domain tests marriage, divorce, maintenance, custody and adoption, and the notary's role in family-related instruments.
Core rules
- Marriage may be registered under the Marriage Registration Ordinance No. 19 of 1907, or governed by Kandyan law, Muslim law or Thesawalamai, depending on the parties.
- Validity requires capacity, consent, absence of prohibited degrees and due registration or customary ceremony.
- Divorce under the general law requires a recognised ground such as adultery, malicious desertion or incurable insanity; Muslim and Kandyan regimes have separate grounds and procedures.
- Adoption is governed by the Adoption of Children Ordinance; maintenance and custody are decided by the courts.
Worked example
Spouses wish to transfer a house by deed of gift. The notary must check which matrimonial property regime applies. Under the general law, property acquired during marriage is not automatically community property, but the Matrimonial Rights and Inheritance Ordinance and special regimes can affect the spouse's rights. If the house is jointly owned, both spouses must join. The reasoning is that a deed ignoring an existing spouse's right is defective.
Traps
Applying one marriage regime to all communities; missing consent or a divorce decree; failing to check minority; and drafting family arrangements that a court would not enforce.