Legal and Sharia Protection of Women's and Children's Rights After Divorce at the Pare-Pare Religious Court

Divorce is a legal event that terminates the marital bond while simultaneously giving rise to new legal consequences in the form of rights and obligations, particularly for women (ex-wives) and children. This study aims to critically and comprehensively examine the implementation of legal protection and sharia principles in safeguarding these rights at the Pare-Pare Religious Court (Pengadilan Agama Pare-Pare). The research employs an empirical legal research method with a qualitative approach, focusing on the analysis of statutory regulations, including Law Number 1 of 1974 as amended by Law Number 16 of 2019, as well as the Compilation of Islamic Law (KHI), complemented by field data from court practices. The findings reveal that, normatively, the KHI and positive law provide a strong legal foundation for the protection of post-divorce rights, particularly concerning iddah maintenance, mut‘ah, division of marital property (gono-gini), and child support based on the principle of the best interest of the child. In practice, judges of the Pare-Pare Religious Court demonstrate a progressive and proactive approach by explicitly stipulating maintenance obligations and child custody arrangements in their decisions. However, the implementation of these decisions encounters significant challenges at the execution stage. Juridical and technical obstacles arise from the weak mechanisms for proving and executing claims over marital property, while sociological barriers such as the unstable income of ex-husbands working in the informal sector and low legal compliance often hinder the realization of women’s and children’s economic rights. Consequently, the study identifies a concrete gap between normative legal protection and substantive justice, indicating that effective protection of women’s and children’s rights after divorce requires not only adequate legal norms but also strengthened execution mechanisms and institutional synergy to ensure that court decisions produce tangible benefits for vulnerable parties.