Chapter on Secret Divorce

I asked Abu Al-Hasan (as) about a man who secretly married a woman without his family knowing while she remained in her family's house. He wanted to divorce her but could not reach her to know when she menstruates or when she becomes pure. Imam (as) said: "This is like a man who is absent from his wife, so he should divorce her based on lunar months and months." I asked: "What if he sometimes has access to her and sometimes does not, so he knows her condition? How should he divorce her then?" Imam (as) replied: "If a month passes without him reaching her, he should divorce her at the beginning of the next month with witnesses, writing down the month in which he divorces her and bringing two witnesses to testify to the divorce. Once three months have passed, she is completely separated from him, and he becomes like any other suitor. However, he must provide for her during those three months in which she observes her waiting period."