In Questions and Answers, Baha'u'llah elaborates a number of issues concerning the year of patience, its observance (Q and A 12), establishing the date of its beginning (Q and A 19 and 40), the conditions for reconciliation (Q and A 38), and the role of witnesses and the Local House of Justice (Q and A 73 and 98). In relation to the witnesses, the Universal House of Justice has clarified that in these days the duties of the witnesses in cases of divorce are performed by the Spiritual Assemblies. (211:1)

The detailed provisions of the Baha'i laws on divorce are summarized in the Synopsis and Codification, section IV.C.2.a.-i. (211:2)

101. The Lord hath prohibited ... the practice to which ye formerly had recourse when thrice ye had divorced a woman.
This relates to a law of Islam set out in the Qur'an which decreed that under certain conditions a man could not remarry his divorced wife unless she had married and been divorced by another man. Baha'u'llah affirms that this is the practice which has been prohibited in the Kitab-i-Aqdas (Q and A 31). (211:3)

102. He who hath divorced his wife may choose, upon the passing of each month, to remarry her when there is mutual affection and consent, so long as she hath not taken another husband ... unless, clearly, her circumstances change.
Shoghi Effendi states, in a letter written on his behalf, that the intention of "the passing of each month" is not to impose a limitation, and that it is possible for a divorced couple to remarry at any time after their divorce, so long as neither party is currently married to another person. (211:4)

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