‘In Akhter v Khan [2018] EWFC 54, the couple had had a nikah ceremony in 1998 but had not registered the marriage under civil law. They had four children together. The petitioner, Nasreen Akhter, sought a divorce from Mohammed Shabaz Khan in November 2016. The husband (so called for convenience) defended the divorce on the basis that the parties had not entered a marriage valid according to English law; the wife (ditto) argued that the presumption of marriage arising out of cohabitation and reputation applied so as to validate the marriage. In the alternative, she averred that the marriage was a void marriage within section 11(a)(iii) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. There were two central questions: whether the parties were to be treated as a validly married under English law by operation of a presumption of marriage and, if not, was the marriage a void marriage susceptible to a decree of nullity.’
Law and Religion UK, 3rd August 2018
Source: www.lawandreligionuk.com
