Family · Guide
The marriage deed: conditions, property and polygamy
What you write in the deed on the wedding day decides a lot later: the conditions, the dowry, and what happens to property bought during the marriage.
These pages describe the law in force in October 2026: the Family Code of 2004 and the Nationality Code. The reform of the Family Code announced in December 2024 has not been voted. They inform you. For your own case, see a lawyer, an adoul or a notary.
Key facts
- Conditions written into the marriage bind both of you. Only conditions that go against the purpose of marriage or against mandatory rules are void, and then the marriage itself stays valid.
- The conditions are written in the marriage deed itself.
- Monogamy clause: when the wife has made the husband undertake not to take another wife, polygamy is forbidden to him.
- The right to divorce: a husband can give his wife the right to end the marriage herself (tamlik), usually in the deed. She then applies to the court and he cannot stop her.
- The dowry (sadaq) is the wife's own property. The Code calls its value moral and symbolic. The deed states what is paid and what is deferred.
- Property: each spouse keeps a separate estate. Marriage under the Family Code does not merge what you own.
- You can agree how property acquired during the marriage is managed and shared. This agreement is optional and is written in a document separate from the marriage deed (article 49).
- The adouls must inform both of you of these property rules at the wedding.
- Without an agreement, a dispute over property acquired during the marriage is judged on the evidence, taking into account the work of each spouse and the burdens each carried.
- Polygamy needs a court authorisation. The husband must show an exceptional, objective reason and enough resources for two families. The court summons the first wife.
- If the first wife refuses and the husband insists, the court applies the discord divorce procedure of its own motion.
- The new wife must be told by the judge that the man is already married, and her consent is recorded.
- If later events make a condition too hard to keep, the spouse bound by it can ask the court to lift it or change it.
Steps
- Before the wedding day, decide together which conditions you want, for example the monogamy clause or the wife's right to divorce.
- Tell the adouls before they write. Read the deed, or have it read to you, before you sign.
- If you want to share what you acquire during the marriage, have the property agreement written as a separate document.
- If you marry under a foreign law, check its default property regime: in some countries it is community of property.
- Keep the original deed and the agreement in a safe place, with copies in both countries.
What to bring
- The marriage deed, with the agreed conditions and the dowry
- The separate agreement on property acquired during the marriage, if you make one
- Later, in a dispute: any proof of what each of you paid or did for the family's property
Watch out
- Without an agreement there is no automatic half share. The court weighs the contribution of each spouse, which does not mean an equal split.
- A first wife's refusal does not by itself stop the court from ruling on a polygamy request. Only the monogamy clause forbids it outright.
- Conditions agreed before adouls do not count as a marriage contract in France. For a contract that France will note, see a notary before the wedding.
- Polygamy authorised in Morocco has no effect in countries that ban it: the second deed is not accepted there, and a second wife gets no family reunification.
- Proposal, not law: the reform would oblige the adouls to ask the wife whether she requires the husband to give up polygamy, and to record her answer. It would also count the wife's work in the home as a contribution to the property.
Official sources
Checked: October 2026. Independent guide, not a government site. Rules change: confirm on the official page before you act.