Akhter v Khan & anr [2018] WTLR 729

Autumn 2018 #173

Mrs Akhter (A) and Mr Khan (K) underwent an Islamic marriage ceremony in England in 1998. They then considered themselves husband and wife and were treated as such by their families, community and state authorities. They had four children. Despite requests by A no civil ceremony was ever undertaken. The parties lived in Dubai between 2005 and 2011 and were treated as married by the UAE authorities, to whom they presented their Islamic marriage certificate.

A petitioned for divorce in 2016. K applied to strike out the petition on the basis that the parties had not entered a valid m...