1,720. Holding onto a Get for Future Use

Hilchos Geirushin 3:5

Let’s say that a man writes a get to divorce his wife but he changes his mind and doesn’t end up divorcing her. In such a case, he may not later divorce her using this get if he was secluded alone with her after it was written. If he did divorce her with this get, divorce is effected and the woman is permitted to remarry without hesitation. This is because this get was written for her and was delivered in front of witnesses, as is necessary. The reason it optimally shouldn’t be used is a rabbinic enactment to prevent people from gossiping that the date on her get precedes the birth of her child.

Hilchos Geirushin 3:6

Let’s say that a man hires a scribe to write a get for a certain woman saying that he’ll hold onto it, intending to marry that woman and subsequently divorce her with it. If the scribe writes it and the man then marries and divorces this woman with it, divorce is not effected because this woman couldn’t have been divorced when the get was written. Accordingly, it cannot be considered written for purposes of divorce. However, if the man hires the scribe to write a get for a woman he has betrothed, planning to finalize the marriage and then divorce her, then if he finalizes the marriage and divorces her with this get, the divorce is effected. If a man has a get written for his yevama (his deceased brother’s widow, whom he is obligated to marry) and he uses it to divorce her after performing yibum (levirate marriage), the status of the divorce is in doubt. This is because, despite the levirate bond, this woman was not fully his wife when the get was written.