The couple started living together in the UK in the summer of 1966 and had four children now all adults. In October 1986 the husband returned to Pakistan, while the wife remained in the UK, and still lives here. While in Pakistan the husband attended the chambers of a Pakistani attorney in Faisalabad and pronounced the Talaq divorce.
He was told that for the divorce to be effective it had to be received by the chairman of the union council where his wife was living, in accordance with the relevant Pakistani law. It was sufficient if the notice of the divorce was sent to the chairman of the area where the wife’s family were living (a neighbouring area of Pakistan). Under the law in Pakistan the Talaq divorce became effective 90 days after it was received by the chairman of the union council. The husband remarried in Pakistan and had a further four children.
The wife denied ever receiving a copy of the divorce from the husband, although the husband contended that he handed it to her when he returned to the UK to wind up his affairs at the end of March 1987. The wife did not believe that she had been validly divorced, so in January 2004 she petitioned for a divorce in England on the basis of 5 years separation. This led to the present application from the husband, who sought a declaration that the Talaq divorce granted to him in Pakistan in 1987 was a valid divorce and entitled to recognition in the UK.
The High Court heard evidence from experts in Islamic law. They advised that it was fatal to a Talaq if there was no notice to the chairman of the union council, but it was not fatal if there was no notice to the wife. In this case therefore notice to the chairman had been given in accordance with the relevant law and the Talaq was valid whether or not the wife had received notification.
Under UK law the validity of an overseas divorce should be recognised if that divorce was effective under the law of the country in which it was obtained. In this case the pronouncement of the Talaq and the notice given to the chairman of the union council were sufficient to amount to a divorce under Pakistani law, and it mattered not whether notice had been given to the wife. The High Court said that it is important that marriages and divorces recognised where they take place should be recognised in this country, unless there are good reasons for not doing so. The wife was not given notice of the divorce nor the opportunity to participate in it, but that is a feature of Talaq divorce. It was irrelevant that both parties were born, brought up, and married in Pakistan to someone of the same religious background. It was therefore fair that the Pakistani Talaq divorce be recognised in this country.
As a footnote, the husband had agreed that the financial claims of the wife had could be dealt with in this country.
Meredith Thompson