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If sexual intercourse hasn’t taken place after the Nikah, then once the divorce takes place, the husband must pay half of the dowry to his wife. But if sexual intercourse has taken place then the whole dowry should be given.

All the below rulings are according to Ayatullah al-Udhma Sayyid Ali Sistany:

Ruling 2449. If a man gives his wife the remaining period of the marriage, in the event that he had sexual intercourse with her, he must give her all the dowry that he had agreed to give her. However, if he did not have sexual intercourse with her, it is obligatory on him to give her half of it.

https://www.sistani.org/english/book/48/2334/

Witnesses at the time divorce are compulsory according to the Shi’as, but according to Ahlus Sunnah witnesses aren’t compulsory at the time of divorce.

Question: Is it necessary that there be two witnesses when the formula of divorce is being recited?

Answer: The presence of two just Mo’men (believer) male witnesses is required; without their presence the divorce would not be in order.

Question: Can one recite a divorce, whilst the two witnesses are not actually present, rather are listening on the phone?

Answer: It is not correct to perform it in such situation (obligatory precaution), rather the two male witnesses must be actually present whilst the divorce is pronounced.

https://www.sistani.org/english/qa/01166/

Method of saying the marriage contract formula (Sīghah): https://www.sistani.org/english/book/48/2329/

The words have to be pronounced properly in order to make the Nikah valid that is why people get it recited by scholars to prevent any sort of mistakes which would invalidate Nikah. (i find it wise to mention that for a girls to have her Nikah recited has to have her father or grandfather’s permission. otherwise, the Nikah is invalid)

Girl or boy can give the wikalat(representation) to someone to recite the divorce and their presence isn’t required.

Main differences in Shia & Sunni Nikah

In Sunnis, it is mandatory to have two adult male witnesses at the time of Nikah whereas there is no need of witnesses at the time of divorce(Talaq) but we Shias do not have such condition to have two witnesses present at the time of Nikah ceremony but we need to have the witnesses at the time of divorce(Talaq).
This shows that Islam doesn’t encourage divorce but where divorce is necessary then witnesses are required according to Shias. It also indicates that Nikah is easier in Shias and divorce is harder.

Regarding Halala you asked:

According to Sunnis, if the husband says “I divorce you” three times in one sitting, then the wife would become Haram for him unless she marries someone else and then divorce the second husband and marries the first husband again but in the Shi’a ‘Fiqh’, pronouncement of divorce three times in one sitting is counted as only one divorce. Thus if a man pronounces divorce three times in one sitting, his wife does not become forbidden for him forever. They can be united again without any condition.

Most of the ‘ulama’ of the Sunni community stipulate that if a husband says three times to his wife that he has divorced her, it will be considered as an irrevocable talaq; resumption of conjugal relations is only possible if the wife marries and subsequently divorces another man, though it is clearly stated in certain of their accepted hadith that divorce pronounced three times in one sitting is to be counted as one divorce.

Irrevocable (bāin) and revocable (rijī) divorce according to the rulings of Ayatullah al-Udhma Sayyid Ali Sistany:

https://www.sistani.org/english/book/48/2344/

Wassalam,

Syed Haider