Tilsen v. Benson 2019 WL 6329065 (Conn. Super., November 7, 2019)

In a case of First Impression in the state of Connecticut, Broder Orland Murray & DeMattie LLC successfully represented the Wife in opposing the Husband’s claim that the parties’ Jewish marriage contract, known as a “Ketubah,” constituted a valid and enforceable prenuptial agreement.  In relevant part, the Ketubah states that the parties “agree to divorce (or, separate from) one another … according to Torah law as in the manner of Jewish People.”  The Husband asserted that “Torah law” mandated that his premarital and inherited property was exempt from equitable distribution, and that he was relieved of any obligation to pay alimony to his wife of thirty (30) years.

Ruling in favor of the Wife, the Court held that even if the Ketubah was otherwise a valid prenuptial agreement under Connecticut law, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution nonetheless forbids the Court from enforcing the provision cited above.  Specifically, the Court concluded that it could not interpret the “Torah law” provision of the parties’ Ketubah using strictly neutral, secular legal principles (as mandated by the First Amendment), and that granting the plaintiff the relief he was requesting, based upon his interpretation of the Ketuba and Jewish law, would instead “excessively entangle the court in a religious dispute and, therefore, … violate the first amendment.”