Divorcing a concubine

I contracted a customary marriage with a woman in my village. Soon after, I left the village to start a new life in the city of Dar es Salaam. I have been living with another woman as husband and wife and we have been blessed with two children. Unfortunately, this city woman no longer wants to live with me and has requested for a divorce and to divide the properties we acquired during our time together. I was wondering whether it is legally possible to divorce this city woman even though we were never formally married. Kindly guide me.
HZ, Dar es Salaam

This is a very interesting question considering that you have admitted you never married this woman. First and foremost, you need to understand that matters concerning marriage are governed by the Law of Marriage Act [Cap. 29 R.E. 2019] (LMA). According to section 9 of the LMA, a marriage means the voluntary union of a man and a woman, intended to last for their joint lives. This provision clearly shows that there is no such thing as a formal or informal marriage. On the issue of divorce, section 99 of the LMA gives any married person the right to petition to the Court for a decree of divorce on the ground that his or her marriage has broken down. This decree of divorce, as per section 112(1) and (2) of the LMA, will dissolve the marital status of the parties and a marriage which has been dissolved will not be an impediment to the subsequent marriage of either of the parties thereto.

Legally, a customary marriage is the only marriage that you have contracted because as per section 25(1)(d) of the LMA a marriage may be contracted in Tanzania where the parties belong to a community or to communities which follow customary law, according to the rites of the customary law. On that note, your life with the city woman is what is known as living with a concubine. Even though you lived with this woman like a married couple and were blessed with children, you had no capacity to contract another marriage since from what you have stated the customary marriage was never dissolved. It is therefore impossible to divorce the city woman because according to the law a decree of divorce must be granted where there is a valid marriage in the first place.

On division of properties, it is important to note that according to section 114(1) of the LMA the Court will have power when granting or subsequent to the granting of a decree of divorce, to order the division between the parties of any assets acquired by the couple during the marriage by their joint efforts or to order the sale of any such asset and the division between the parties of the proceeds of sale. This provision presupposes that there was a valid marriage between the parties, something that does not exist in your case. In that regard, there is no possibility to divorce the city woman. You may still find other means to divide the properties you acquired together as the two of you move on with your separate lives. Your lawyer can guide you further.