Digital Family Law Governance Centered on Children in Unregistered Islamic Marriages and Marriage Annulment after Death: A Legal Policy Review Based on International Law

Unregistered Islamic marriage (nikah siri) creates layered legal problems because religious validity differs from state registration, affecting marital status, child status, divorce, maintenance, population administration, and inheritance. The problem intensifies when one spouse dies and a claim for annulment of the marriage or of the isbat nikah is filed. This study (1) analyses the legal effect of death on marriage and on annulment claims, (2) examines the relationship between Supreme Court Circular (SEMA) No. 2 of 2019, SEMA No. 2 of 2024, and Supreme Court Decision No. 695 K/AG/2023, (3) assesses child status and biological-father responsibility after Constitutional Court Decision No. 46/PUU-VIII/2010, and (4) formulates a child-centred digital governance model. Using a normative juridical method with statutory, case, conceptual, and comparative-data approaches, the study finds that death terminates the marriage, so the operative object of an annulment claim generally disappears, subject to the good-faith exception in SEMA No. 2 of 2024; that inheritance disputes must not be disguised as annulment claims; and that the absence of marriage registration must not erase a child's civil protection. The study proposes the Digital Legal Family Status and Biological Father Responsibility System (DLF-BFRS), a five-layer model that separates marital status from the child's legal identity. The model is conceptual and requires policy testing and personal-data safeguards before implementation.