Is the new Family Code already in force in Morocco?

No. As of October 2026 the 2004 Family Code still applies in full. The 139 revision proposals and the scholars' opinion have no legal force until a bill passes the Council of Government and both houses of parliament and is published in the Official Bulletin. Judges rule on the current code, not on the proposals.

Which reforms did the Supreme Council of Scholars refuse?

Three proposals touched fixed religious texts that do not admit new interpretation (ijtihad): using DNA testing alone to establish paternal lineage, the general abolition of taasib (male agnate inheritance), and inheritance between Muslims and non-Muslims. For daughters inheriting without sons, the Council offered an alternative: lifetime gifts (hiba) from parents, which secure the daughters' share without changing the inheritance rules.

What did the scholars approve?

Most of the referred questions: the marriage age of 18 (with a strictly conditioned exception at 17), registering a wife's objection to polygamy in the contract itself, shared custody that survives the mother's remarriage, valuing the wife's household work as a contribution to family assets, protecting the marital home for the surviving spouse, mutual divorce without court, and equal bequest rights for grandchildren through sons or daughters.

Why does a religious council rule on a civil law in Morocco?

Article 41 of the Constitution makes the Supreme Council of Scholars, presided by the King as Commander of the Faithful, the only body empowered to issue officially approved fatwas. When reform proposals touch Quranic or Prophetic texts, the King refers them to the Council before parliament legislates - with the royal guideline that one cannot make licit what religion forbids, nor forbid what it permits.

Morocco's Family Code Revision: The Scholars' Verdict and What Applies Today

The Family Code (Moudawana, Law 70.03) governs marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance for Moroccan families. Its ongoing revision is the most watched legal-religious process in the Kingdom. This article tracks the verified timeline, what the scholars decided, and - most importantly - what actually applies today.

The process, step by step

Date	Step
30 July 2022	Throne Day speech: the King orders a revision of the Family Code to keep pace with society
September 2023	Royal creation of the reform instance (ministries, judiciary, Supreme Council, human rights council)
2024	The instance completes national consultations and submits 139 amendment proposals across the Code's seven books
28 June 2024	The King refers the proposals with religious dimensions to the Supreme Council of Scholars (Royal Office statement)
23-24 Dec 2024	Royal working meeting in Casablanca; the ministers of Justice and Habous present the outcomes: more than 100 amendments, with the Council's fatwa
2025-2026	Drafting commission at work; calendar slips past the 2025 target; September 2026 elections bring a new government
October 2026	The new government's 2026-2031 program includes the reform; the text is expected in the new legislature's first year - not yet law

What the Council of Scholars decided

The Council's Fatwa Commission split the referred questions as follows.

Approved (10 core issues): the marriage age at 18; dispensing MREs (emigrants) from two Muslim witnesses when impossible; joint legal guardianship of children; valuing the wife's household work as a contribution to family wealth; documented nafaqa (maintenance); the surviving spouse's housing right; declaring both spouses' debts against acquired assets; custody surviving the mother's remarriage; mut'aa compensation for the woman seeking divorce; and equal will rights for grandchildren through daughters, ad infinitum.

Resolved by Sharia-compliant alternatives (3): the parentage of children - resolved in a way that protects lineage; the bequest to an heir - conditioned on other heirs' consent; and the taasib question when only daughters inherit - answered through lifetime gifts (hiba), replacing expectation with actual possession.

Left to the Sovereign (2 + 1): inheritance between spouses of different religions, and between a kafala guardian and the child under their care - each with two alternatives for the King to choose by maslaha (public interest); plus the polygamy-acceptance condition and the retention of the Maliki rite as reference (article 400).

Refused - fixed texts (3): DNA testing to establish paternal lineage (lineage is established by Sharia proofs), the general abolition of taasib, and inheritance between Muslims and non-Muslims. On these the Council held that ijtihad cannot touch what the Quran and Sunnah fix explicitly.

The guiding rule came from the King's own letter: one cannot make licit what is forbidden, nor forbid what is authorized - ijtihad operates only where the texts are silent and no consensus exists, within the Maliki frame of the Kingdom.

What the reform would change for families

Marriage: legal age 18 for both sexes (17 only by strictly conditioned judge authorization); the marriage certificate as the sole proof of marriage; documented engagements
Polygamy: the wife is asked, at contract time, whether the husband commits to monogamy - her objection is written into the contract and blocks polygamy; without it, polygamy is confined to exceptional, court-justified cases
Divorce: consensual divorce contracted directly without a judge; a non-judicial mediation body first; a six-month maximum for divorce cases
Custody: shared during marriage; the divorced mother keeps custody even after remarrying; strengthened housing and visitation rights for children
Money: the wife's domestic work counted in the couple's acquired assets; transparent alimony standards and faster enforcement
Inheritance: lifetime gifts to daughters as the sanctioned solution to the taasib inequity; the marital home protected for the surviving spouse

What applies today - the essential point

None of the above is in force. The 2004 Family Code applies in full to every marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance case in Morocco until a law is adopted by parliament and published in the Official Bulletin. The proposals cannot be invoked before a judge, and their final wording may still change in the legislative process. Families and professionals should build decisions on the current code, watching the parliamentary calendar rather than headlines.

For the inheritance rules that apply today, use our Faraid inheritance calculator.

Disclaimer

This article summarizes a public institutional process for education; it is not a fatwa or legal advice. For a personal ruling, consult a qualified scholar or lawyer. See official sources below.