Z v Z

Miss Natasha Khalique instructed on a direct access basis for the Applicant Mr Ravi Sethi instructed on a direct access basis for the Respondent Hearing dates: 20 to 23 January 2025 ____________________

Mr Z had had a civil and Islamic marriage to and divorce from another person. Ms Z had similarly had a civil and Islamic marriage to another person. I understand that she had had an Islamic divorce but she did not obtain a civil divorce until 2005. Mr Z says that he did not know that Ms Z was not divorced, according to English law, at the time of the Islamic marriage.

The best evidence certainly of an English civil ceremony, and indeed a religious ceremony, is a certificate which sets out the date, place and parties to the marriage ceremony.

Mr Z could have produced if he had wanted. There is some obvious truth in the assertion that to find documents from 2013 will be hard but the dearth here, when other old documents can be found and produced is striking.

took place. The attack on the certificate suggested by Mr Z, namely that it does not bear his signature is weak. I have no evidence to say it is not his signature. It looks like his signature. That his signature might have changed somewhat over time is not, without expert evidence, a reason for me to be sceptical of a signature that looks like his.