Conflict of laws in the matter of alimony

Alimony issues are problematic when it is necessary to look for the law governing them in foreign relations, ie when one of the parties is a foreigner because there are many types of expenses: there is alimony for the wife on her husband, there is alimony, for relatives' expenses, and temporary expenses. It requires searching each of these types for the law that governs them.If the task of laws is to develop solutions to these and other issues, these solutions may not be sufficient to cover all the problems that arise in practice. If we back to the position of Iraqi law on the law governing alimony, as in many other laws, we consider that it stipulates in Article (21) of the Iraqi Civil Code that "the obligation of maintenance is subject to the law of the debtor."In fact, a preliminary view of this text shows that its wording appears to be improperly different from the wording of the rules of attribution. It is not permissible to prejudge a person who is indebted before referring to the applicable law because the latter will determine who owes alimony.