Mr. Asif Aziz, a billionaire London property developer, has claimed that he was never married to Mrs. Aziz, his ‘wife’ of 14 years, who is claiming a share of £1.1 billion in financial remedy proceedings in the High Court.
The Decree Nisi of divorce was pronounced in 2016 however Mr Aziz wishes for this decision to be reversed on the grounds that they were never actually married.
Mrs Aziz claims that a Muslim ceremony of marriage took place in Malawi in 2002 however Mr Aziz has said that this ceremony never took place and has also alleged that the marriage was based on a fake certificate which was obtained so a child they adopted could get a passport.
Even if Mr. Aziz is successful in proving that the marriage was not recognised in Malawi and therefore invalid in this country, it would dangerous for him to assume that this will mean that Mrs. Aziz will not be entitled to any financial relief.
Mr. and Mrs. Aziz’s relationship lasted 14 years and they have 4 children together. As long as Mrs. Aziz has sufficient evidence to show that they both intended to be married and lived their life as man and wife, then her financial claims against him will remain open.
If Mrs. Aziz obtains a Decree of Nullity (i.e. the marriage is annulled) then she is still entitled to ask the Court to make financial orders in the same way as if there had been a divorce.
Mr. Aziz is not the first person to try and get out of sharing his wealth on the grounds of a marriage being invalid. The most famous of all was in 1999 when Mick Jagger tried to claim that he had never been married to Jerry Hall. In the end Jagger and Hall agreed to have their marriage annulled on the basis that the marriage ceremony was not valid according to Indonesian law thus not recognised in England. Recently there has been speculation that Elle Macpherson and her husband Jeffrey Soffer’s nuptials in Fiji were legally invalid.
If you are unsure as to your legal marital status or have any questions about foreign marriages and their recognition in England, please contact a member of our team today on 0161 927 3118.