11. Amendment of section 35A

In the principal Act, in section 35A —

in the section heading, replace “custody of children” with “nullity of marriage, etc.”;

replace subsections (1) and (2) with —“(1) Any of the parties to a marriage who intends to commence —

civil proceedings in a court involving any matter relating to the disposition or division of property on divorce or nullity of marriage; or

civil proceedings in a court involving any matter relating to the custody of, care and control of, or access to any minor child of the parties,must apply to the Court for permission to commence those civil proceedings in the court, if he or she intends to do so at any of the following times:

on or after the commencement of any Muslim family proceedings involving the same parties in the Court;

after the making of a decree or order for divorce or nullity of marriage by the Court;

on or after the registration of a divorce in respect of the marriage under section 102.

Where civil proceedings described in subsection (1)(b) have commenced between parties to a marriage, but any of the following occur after the commencement of those civil proceedings:

any Muslim family proceedings involving the same parties are commenced in the Court;

a decree or order for divorce or nullity of marriage is made by the Court;

a divorce in respect of the marriage is registered under section 102,any party to the marriage who intends to continue those civil proceedings must apply to the Court for permission to do so.”; and

after subsection (8), insert —“(9) In this section —“Muslim family proceedings” means —

proceedings for divorce or nullity of marriage under this Act; or

proceedings for an application for a CCCA order or FR order under section 52A;“parties to a marriage” means parties to a marriage where —

the parties are Muslims in all proceedings in the Court; or

the parties were married under the provisions of the Muslim law.”.