God and Man at Arbitration

Reminding that the Family Code has some unique features not found in the more general Texas Arbitration Act, “which are expressly designed to avoid subjecting parties in divorce cases to arbitration when the contract containing the agreement to arbitrate is invalid or unenforceable,” the Texas Supreme Court held in In re Ayad that “[t]o comply with these statutes, a trial court must: (1) try the issue by giving each party an opportunity to be heard on all validity or enforceability challenges to the contract containing the arbitration clause, as well as an opportunity to offer evidence concerning any factual disputes or questions of foreign law material to the challenges; and (2) decide the challenges before ordering arbitration.” No. 22-0078 (Sept. 23, 2022) (per curiam).

The agreement at issue was an “Islamic Pre-Nuptial Agreement,” but the Court’s ruling did not require it to address any matters about the substance of that agreement.