Many marriages have been delayed in Saudi Arabia because some local courts have run out of marriage contract papers, says a report in the Arab News.

The report said some courts have not had these contracts for the past 40 days, forcing mathons (persons assigned to writing out these contracts) to delay signing contracts for couples.

Mohammad Al-Babteen, director-general for marriage contract writers, was quoted as saying that his directorate had received complaints in this regard. He said it was a distribution problem.

He said the ministry has contracts in its stores and can also print them out, the report said.

Newlyweds need these contracts to get family identity cards from the Ministry of Interior’s civil status department.