Marrakech – Morocco’s courts registered 154,377 divorce-related cases in 2025, an increase of 4.38% compared with the previous year, according to the Supreme Council of the Judicial Power (CSPJ)’s latest annual report.
The figures, published in the Official Gazette, Issue No. 7547 bis, dated September 28, reveal that courts received 6,482 more cases than in 2024, when 147,895 were registered. The increase reverses the previous year’s decline, following 151,168 cases recorded in 2023.
The report offers a detailed picture of how Moroccan couples seek to end their marriages, revealing the overwhelming prevalence of two procedures: divorce by mutual consent and court-ordered dissolution on grounds of persistent marital discord.
Together, these two categories accounted for approximately 97.6% of all divorce-related cases registered in 2025.
Two legal procedures dominate divorce cases
Morocco’s Family Code, known as the “Moudawana,” distinguishes between “talaq” (الطلاق) and “tatliq” (التطليق), two legal procedures for dissolving a marriage.
The distinction is important because the terms, although commonly translated into English as divorce, refer to different judicial mechanisms.
Under Article 78 of the Family Code, “talaq” is a form of divorce initiated by a spouse under conditions established by law and subject to judicial supervision. Article 79 requires court authorization before the divorce can be formally documented.
“Tatliq,” meanwhile, refers to judicial dissolution of marriage, pronounced by a court following proceedings brought on grounds recognized by the Family Code.
Of the 154,377 cases registered in 2025, “tatliq” accounted for 112,911, representing 73.1% of the total. The remaining 41,466 cases, or 26.9%, fell under “talaq.”
The distribution remained relatively consistent with previous years. Judicial dissolution represented 73.5% of cases in 2023 and 72.8% in 2024, suggesting that this procedure has maintained its predominant position.
Mutual consent accounts for nearly 97% of ‘talaq’ cases
Within the “talaq” category, divorce by mutual consent, known as “talaq ittifaqi” (الطلاق الاتفاقي), overwhelmingly dominated the proceedings.
Moroccan courts registered 40,211 such cases in 2025, accounting for 96.97% of all “talaq” cases.
The figure represents a continued increase from 38,783 cases in 2023 and 38,858 in 2024.
Under Article 114 of the Family Code, spouses may agree to terminate their marriage, either unconditionally or under mutually accepted terms, provided those arrangements comply with the law and do not prejudice their children’s interests.
The agreement must be submitted to a court, which attempts reconciliation before authorizing the formal documentation of the divorce.
The judicial council associates the prevalence of consensual divorce with the procedural flexibility it offers spouses, including the possibility of agreeing on the terms of their separation and reducing disputes that may affect the family.
Other forms of “talaq” accounted for considerably fewer proceedings.
Divorce before consummation of marriage, referred to in Moroccan legal terminology as “talaq qabl al-bina’” (الطلاق قبل البناء), represented 1,173 cases in 2025, down from 1,217 in 2024.
Courts also registered 48 cases of revocable divorce, or “talaq raj’i” (الطلاق الرجعي), a form of divorce under which the marital relationship may be resumed during the legally prescribed waiting period, subject to the applicable conditions.
Another 33 cases involved “khul’” (الخلع), a procedure through which spouses agree to dissolve the marriage in exchange for compensation or another agreed financial consideration, generally provided by the wife.
Finally, just one case concerned “talaq tamlik” (طلاق التمليك), in which a husband delegates to his wife the authority to exercise the right to divorce.
Together, these three less frequently used procedures accounted for only 82 cases in 2025, illustrating their limited presence in the courts’ overall caseload.
Marital discord overwhelmingly dominates judicial divorce
The most striking findings concern “tatliq,” or court-ordered dissolution of marriage.
The number of cases registered under this procedure rose from 107,681 in 2024 to 112,911 in 2025, an increase of 5,230 cases, equivalent to 4.86%.
Within this category, judicial dissolution for marital discord, known as “shiqaq” (الشقاق), accounted for 110,454 cases, representing 97.82% of all “tatliq” proceedings and approximately 71.6% of all divorce-related cases registered that year.
The procedure has maintained its overwhelming predominance over the past three years, with 107,679 cases recorded in 2023 and 104,898 in 2024.
Under Articles 94-97 of Morocco’s Family Code, either spouse may initiate “shiqaq” proceedings when disagreements threaten the continuation of the marriage.
The court must first attempt reconciliation. If these efforts fail and the marital conflict persists, judges may pronounce the dissolution, determine the financial rights arising from the separation, and consider each spouse’s responsibility for the breakdown when assessing compensation.
The legislation provides for such proceedings to be resolved within a maximum of six months from the filing of the application.
Unlike procedures requiring a particular legally established ground, “shiqaq” allows spouses to seek judicial dissolution because of persistent marital disagreement.
The council’s findings illustrate how extensively this legal mechanism has come to dominate judicial divorce proceedings.
However, the prevalence of “shiqaq” does not, by itself, establish the underlying causes of marital breakdown. Cases brought under the procedure may involve different personal, financial, or family circumstances that the statistics do not separately identify.
Absence, harm, and failure to provide maintenance
Other legally recognized grounds for judicial divorce accounted for a relatively small proportion of cases in 2025.
The report records 1,406 proceedings under a general “tatliq” classification without a more specific ground identified in its statistical breakdown.
Beyond that category, the most frequently recorded specific ground was the absence of a spouse, with 531 cases.
Judicial dissolution for harm, known as “tatliq li al-darar” (التطليق للضرر), accounted for another 456 cases, up from 305 in 2024.
Under Morocco’s Family Code, harm may include conduct causing material or moral injury serious enough to make the continuation of married life untenable.
Other categories were substantially less common.
Courts registered 32 cases of judicial divorce for a legally recognized defect or serious condition, known as “al-’ayb” (العيب), and 20 cases involving failure to provide legally required spousal maintenance, or “adam al-infaq” (عدم الإنفاق).
Another 11 cases concerned “ila’ and hajr” (الإيلاء والهجر), traditional Islamic legal concepts involving a husband’s oath of sexual abstinence or abandonment of marital relations.
Only one case involved a husband’s failure to comply with a condition stipulated in the marriage contract.
Collectively, the figures demonstrate the limited use of these more specific judicial grounds compared with the far broader shiqaq procedure.
Courts rule on nearly 160,000 cases
Beyond the number of new filings, the judicial council’s report provides an assessment of how courts handled divorce-related proceedings.
In 2025, Moroccan courts ruled on 159,815 “talaq” and “tatliq” cases, compared with 150,263 in 2024, representing an increase of 9,552 decisions.
Of those adjudicated cases, 42,832 fell under “talaq,” while 116,983 concerned “tatliq.”
The total number of divorce-related cases handled by courts, including cases carried over from previous periods, reached 182,224 in 2025, compared with 178,290 a year earlier.
The proportion of cases adjudicated relative to the total caseload consequently rose from 84.28% in 2024 to 87.70% in 2025.
Another judicial performance indicator, measuring decisions against newly registered cases, stood at 103.52%, compared with 101.60% in 2024.
A figure above 100% means that courts ruled on more cases than were newly registered during the year, reflecting their handling of proceedings carried over from earlier periods.
The council presents this improvement as evidence of greater efficiency in processing family-related litigation, even as the number of new divorce cases increased.
What the figures reveal about divorce in Morocco
The latest statistics point to two distinct developments in Morocco’s family courts: a renewed increase in divorce-related filings and the continued concentration of proceedings within a limited number of legal mechanisms.
Mutual-consent divorce overwhelmingly dominates the “talaq” category, while dissolution for marital discord accounts for almost all “tatliq” proceedings.
The distinction also matters when interpreting the wider figures. The 154,377 cases registered in 2025 represent judicial filings, not necessarily the same number of marriages legally dissolved that year.
Likewise, the number of cases adjudicated includes proceedings initiated in previous years and does not establish how many petitions resulted in a final dissolution of marriage.
The report does not provide sufficient information to determine the social or economic circumstances behind individual separations, the ages of the spouses, or how the figures translate into a divorce rate among married couples.
What it does establish is the continued centrality of the courts in regulating marital separation under Morocco’s Family Code, with mutual consent and persistent marital discord accounting for almost the entirety of the country’s recorded divorce-related proceedings.
