1,696. The Get Must Not Require More Than Delivery

Hilchos Geirushin 1:5

When the Torah says “sends her from his home,” it doesn’t mean that she must leave his home for divorce to be effected; rather, divorce is effected as soon as the get reaches her hand even though she’s still in her husband’s home. Rather, it teaches us that if a man divorces his wife but doesn’t send her from his home, it’s like one who divorces his wife and subsequently remarries her. This will require another get, as we will see.

Hilchos Geirushin 1:6

We learn that, once the get is written, nothing may be required other than delivering it from the words, “he writes a bill of divorce for her (and) puts it in her hand,” which tells us that a get is only valid when the only indispensable things are writing and delivering it. This excludes something that must be detached after being written. Therefore, if a man writes a get on a cow’s horn, he must give his wife the entire cow. If he cut the horn off after he writing the get on it, it is ineffective. Similarly, if one wrote a get on a plant that was still attached to the ground, divorce is not effected. This is true even if the witnesses signed the get after it was detached from the ground.