Jewish women are on the march, quite literally in recent weeks, as they seek to throw off their metaphorical chains.

The issue of 'agunot', chained women, has dominated Jewish news in recent months, and their plight has attracted enough high-profile support to bring it to the attention of the national newspapers.If a Jewish couple has a civil divorce, but not a Get (a Jewish Bill of divorce), serious consequences may ensue.

In one of several recent well-publicised cases, a Jewish couple still had no Get a few years after the civil divorce.

Following a very public, high-profile campaign carried out on behalf of the woman by the Agunot Campaign, she obtained the Get.In some cases, women are known to have waited many years for a Get, which may only be granted by the husband; others are known to be required to pay large sums of money before the husband will grant the Get.In Canada, a Jewish woman is claiming multi-million dollar damages from her former husband for having delayed granting her the Get for 15 years.There is no reported litigation against a lawyer for failing to advise a client about Get issues, but in theory there would be nothing to prevent this.

When it comes to advising Jewish clients, Get issues should be an integral part of any divorce lawyer's advice.For technical reasons, a Get is granted by mutual consent of both parties.

The husband (or his legal agent) hands the wife the Get document, and she in turn has formally to agree to accept the Get.In order for the Get to be universally recognised within the Jewish world, it is essential that the Get procedures should be effected under the auspices of an Orthodox Beth Din, the court of Jewish religious law.In practice, both parties need an Orthodox Get in order to remarry within an Orthodox synagogue and to retain the option of remaining fully integrated within the Orthodox Jewish community.

A client may say to his or her legal adviser that he or she is not religious or is part of one of the other Jewish movements in the UK (Conservative, Reform , Liberal or Progressive) and therefore does not need a Get.

A Get, however, is not a religious document as such, and does not indicate any acknowledgement of religious belief or practice.

It is simply the method by means of which a Jewish marriage is terminated in Jewish law.In such circumstances, the lawyer should be aware that there are reasons why such an apparent lack of concern on the part of the client may be regretted in the future, when it may be too late to remedy the situation.

For the reasons which follow, it would be prudent for the lawyer to provide an explanation to such a client as to why issues of Get are given full and proper consideration along with all the other aspects in a divorce:Nobody knows what the future may bring.

A divorcing client may subsequently wish to marry someone who will refuse to marry a divorcee without an Orthodox Get.

This is not uncommon and can be the case even if the parties are otherwise not religious.A client may in the near or distant future decide to become observant.

People who have not led religious lives have (for various reasons) occasionally decide to become observant.

This phenomenon is not restricted to Judaism.Similarly, a client may not be Orthodox or religious, but if he or she were to remarry, any children of the subsequent marriage in due course may decide to adopt an Orthodox or religious lifestyle.

If their parents' divorce were not valid in Jewish law, this would cause serious problems for the children.Any child a woman conceives while she is Jewishly married to someone who is not the child's father is deemed a mamzer, even although the mother has a civil divorce.

Mamzer status applies only to children born of an adulterous (or incestuous) union and not to children merely born 'out of wedlock', to use the old term.However, as a wife is deemed to be committing adultery in Jewish law if she has not received a Get from her first husband and then commences a new relationship, the status of mamzer will attach to children born from that new relationship.The mamzer status can never be removed and is passed to all the descendants of the original mamzer.

A mamzer cannot marry another Jew unless that person is also a mamzer.

It will be appreciated, therefore, that the status of mamzer is a severe disability, and every effort should be made to avoid such a status arising.At the very least, lawyers need to be able to advise clients of the above.

As in all else, if the client chooses to disregard the legal advice, he or she must live with the consequences, but lawyers have a professional duty to give the advice.Having heard all this, the client wants a Get.

So how does the lawyer proceed? Traditionally, a Get was always given after decree absolute.

Historically, there was a good reason for this -- in order to avoid any allegations of connivance or collusion which would invalidate pre-1962 divorce proceedings.However, since the advent of no-fault divorces, the Beth Din will now facilitate a Get at any time during the civil divorce proceedings, or indeed before they are commenced.

Accordingly, either the lawyer or the client should contact the Beth Din direct at the earliest opportunity.

The Beth Din will open its own file and help to progress matters according to the circumstances of the particular case.The actual Get procedure is relatively straightforward and the Beth Din will advise the couple regarding each step.

The husband and wife do not have to meet one another at any stage if they prefer not to, or if it is logistically difficult.

Except in the most except ional circumstances, it is never prudent for the parties to postpone consideration of Get issues until after the decree nisi has been made absolute.Only two conditions are required: that both parties consent, and that the parties have ceased to cohabit and are no longer at the same address.Lawyers should, therefore, raise the issue of the Get at the earliest opportunity, preferably before the parties have become entrenched in acrimonious recriminations.There can be very few cases where there is nothing to negotiate, and there will be many opportunities during the negotiations to press for the Get to be obtained.

Just as negotiations are made over money, contact with children, or even the furniture, negotiations should at the same time be made over the Get, and the issue of the Get should not be sidelined.As a matter of good practice, a consent order, or even a court order in contested ancillary proceedings, should not be made without giving consideration to the client's need for a Get, in the same way as the issue of the home or maintenance should not be ignored.The lawyer's objective should be for both parties to provide appropriate undertakings to facilitate a Get in any consent order within a defined period of time.

Such undertakings can then be enforced as a matter of civil law.

The Beth Din has a suitable draft which can be incorporated in consent orders, and lawyers or their clients should ask for a copy of this draft as soon as possible.

In disputed ancillary proceedings, the matter should be raised with the court and referred to in any affidavit filed.This may seem rather strange to a secular lawyer or one of another faith; perhaps anachronistic, unfair and/or sexist.

However, a failure to grasp and deal with the issue of Get can result in unholy misery not only for the client, but for any future children of a wife who only has a civil divorce.For more information-- Get Advisory ServiceJewish Marriage Council23 Ravenhurst Avenue, HendonLondon NW4 4EETel: 020 8203 6311The Agunot Campaign63 Bayswater RoadLondonW2 3PHTel: 020 7723 8575