1,775. A Woman as Agent of Her Own Get

Rabbi Jack Abramowitz

Hilchos Geirushin 7:23

A man can appoint his wife as an agent of her own get. After the get is written and signed in her presence, he gives it to her and appoints her an agent to bring it to a particular court so that the court can then appoint another agent to give her the get, thereby effecting divorce. When the woman tells the court that the get was written and signed in her presence, her words are accepted. The court then takes the get from her and gives it to the agent they appoint to complete the husband’s assignment.

Hilchos Geirushin 7:24

The above only applies if the husband gave such directions. If he only gave her the get, and it’s in her possession, she is under no obligation to take it to the court. We assume that she’s divorced because she has a get that was written according to the law and is signed by witnesses. Even if we don’t recognize the witnesses’ signatures and they haven’t been validated, we are not concerned that the woman may have forged them because she wouldn’t sabotage herself. (As we said earlier, the intention of forging signatures is to spitefully prohibit a woman to her husband.) Furthermore, unless an objection is lodged, it’s as if the witnesses who signed the get personally testified in court. Accordingly, we presume that the get was written according to law and allow the woman re-marry. This is because a get delivered by an agent is considered valid unless the husband objects or brings proof that the get was forged. If we had concerns about such things, we would also have to be concerned even when a husband gives his wife a get in front of us that he may have canceled it before delivery, or that the witnesses are invalid, or that maybe it wasn’t written for this couple. Just as we aren’t concerned about these possibilities and we presume that the get is valid until proven otherwise, we are similarly not concerned about an agent or a woman who has a get in their possession. All this is because the laws of ritual matters are different from those of financial matters.