A v B [2022] EWFC 14925 May 2022
Published: 05/12/2022 09:00
https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWFC/HCJ/2022/149.html
HHJ Reardon. W’s application under s 55 of the Family Law Act 1986 for declaration that no valid marriage subsisted between the parties because at the time of the purported wedding, conducted by a priest of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Sahiwal, Pakistan, the parties were each married to other people. H’s position was that marriage was valid, but he had petitioned for divorce.
The parties’ evidence could not be relied upon and their documentary evidence was treated with ‘extreme caution’. After hearing from an expert on Pakistani wedding law, HHJ Reardon held that the ceremony had been conducted in accordance with the Christian Marriage Act 1872. However, it did not give rise to a valid marriage because the parties were each held to have married bigamously. The ceremony gave rise to a void marriage.
W had not applied for a decree of nullity and there was nothing in statute or FPR to suggest that a decree of divorce could not be granted where no nullity petition had been filed. Decree nisi was therefore to be pronounced on H’s divorce petition if W did not file a nullity petition within the next four weeks.
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