Forged divorce to be “set aside”, rules judge

A divorce has been set aside by the family courts following the forging of official documents which left a woman unaware that she was divorced for 12 years.

The decision comes after the judge ruled that the woman had no knowledge of the divorce and that her signature had been forged by, or on behalf of, her husband.

The couple had separated in 2009 following their marriage in 1978. The husband had reportedly since married another woman in 2011 and had also had a child. Mrs Randhawa said she had been aware of rumours that her husband had a child with another woman, but was not aware they were married, and also believed that she was in fact still married to her husband. The couple had reportedly still attended family functions as husband and wife.

The ruling now raises the possibility that by remarrying, Mr Randhawa, could effectively be a bigamist, if the second marriage is recognised under English law.

Many family law practitioners have warned that the onset of no fault divorce, which becomes effective on 6^th April could cause an increase in the number of fraudulent divorces, in addition to the fact that most applications are submitted via an online portal.

Speaking to the Times, A family law expert said that the case highlighted the potential for spouses to commit fraud to escape an unhappy marriage unbeknown to their spouse. Family law specialists have also pointed out that the online divorce portal, currently employed by HMCTS to process divorce applications, could create greater opportunities for fraud.

James Brown, a partner at Hall Brown Family Law, said “the divorce process is open to abuse like so many other types of administration”.