Over 2,600 divorce cases filed in Rwanda in 2024/2025

By The Inspirer.

Rwanda’s Judiciary has reported that 2,674 couples filed for divorce during the 2024/2025 judicial year, a slight drop from 2,833 cases recorded the previous year.

According to the Judiciary’s annual report, divorce remains the most common civil case in Rwandan courts, followed by disputes over immovable property (2,259 cases), breach of contract (1,176 cases), and civil status documents (1,059 cases).

The President of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, Domitille Mukantaganzwa, said the institution will increase efforts to promote mediation as an alternative way of resolving disputes.

“This year, we will focus on encouraging mediation, particularly in family, labor, administrative, and commercial cases,” she noted, adding that victim-offender mediation and plea bargaining will also be expanded in criminal cases.

A rising trend over the years

Official figures show that divorce has been on the rise for nearly a decade. Only 21 petitions were filed in 2016, growing to 69 in 2017, then surging to 1,311 in 2018. By 2019, courts granted 8,941 divorces, according to the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR).

Although numbers dropped in subsequent years—with 3,213 cases in 2020, 3,322 in 2021/22, and 3,075 in 2022/23—the volume remains high.

New legal safeguards

The sharp increase in divorce petitions prompted recent revisions to the law governing persons and family.

Lawmakers highlighted concerns that divorce was being misused as a tool for wealth redistribution, particularly among couples who had chosen full community of property, where assets are split equally upon separation.

Under the revised law, couples who divorce before completing five years of marriage may not automatically divide property equally. Instead, courts can allocate assets based on each spouse’s actual contribution and deduct debts or damages incurred individually.

The law also clarifies grounds for divorce, which include adultery, conviction for a disgraceful crime, refusal to provide for the family, domestic violence, psychological or emotional abuse, financial misconduct, and other behaviors that severely harm a spouse or child.

Courts may also approve divorce if cohabitation becomes impossible for any other intolerable reason.