The Importance of following correct divorce proceedings

A recent case of Randhawa v Randhawa saw the court setting aside a decree absolute made 12 years ago.

The parties in this case had married in 1978 and the husband had petitioned for divorce in January 2010 on the basis of the wife’s unreasonable behaviour, with the final decree made in April 2010. As part of those proceedings, the divorce petition should have been served on the wife and an acknowledgement of service indicating the wife was not defending the proceedings and purportedly signed by the wife was submitted to the court. The husband then went on to remarry and have children.

However, during an eight day hearing in 2021, the wife alleged that she had not been served with the divorce papers and the alleged signature on the acknowledgement of service form was a forgery. Her husband denied these allegations and asserted that the wife had been fully aware of the proceedings and had completed the acknowledgement of service. 

The husband refused to provide a specimen of his hand writing for expert consideration and the court had no direct evidence that the husband had fraudulently completed the acknowledgement pretending to be the wife, but found no credibility in the husband's reasons for failure to provide the handwriting sample. As a result he was able to raise inferences in relation to the reason for the failure and found that the husband had both means and motive for completing the form. That being the case, the divorce was set aside.

This case raises a number of important issues;

1. Service of proceedings is an extremely important aspect of divorce just as it is with any other form of legal proceedings and part of the basic and fundamental right to a fair trial.
2. Attempting to short cut procedural requirements is not a good idea and is likely to come back and bite you hard.

• In this case the husband now finds himself married to two women. Bigamy is a criminal offence in the uk punishable by up to 7 years in prison.
• Assuming that the first marriage is to be brought to an end, fresh divorce proceedings will be required.
• The second marriage may be considered invalid/ void.
• Falsifying a signature is also a criminal offence.

A decision to divorce is not made lightly and it is so important to make sure that it is done properly. 

Should you require further information about divorce or other aspects of separation, I can be contacted via Karen.Johnson@birkettlong.co.uk or for an initial free no obligation chat on 01206 217305 or alternatively, complete our enquiry form and one of our specialist family solicitors will contact you.