Not an easy one....

I got married to a woman in Ukraine in Summer 2016. She finally came to the UK in March 2018 when we got a spouse Visa for her,and before she arrived we spent a total of 45 days together. The marriage was recognised in British law for visa purposes.

After a couple of weeks,I began to suspect she was only really in the UK to make money,and not to be with me-so I asked her to leave. There was no violence,just an argument but she called Police. They came,no arrest,and recorded it as a verbal altercation. I left the house and never saw her again-that was April 2018. To get permanent visa leave to remain,she only had to make that one allegation. It's a common tactic.

We lived in the UK together 3 weeks,and she contributed nothing at all financially during the whole course of the marriage. When she disappeared,she took the original marriage certificate,so it's been a job to get the court to accept a notarized duplicate. I have no idea where she is,but probably somewhere in the UK with a Russian or Ukrainian man. All the advice on what to do she was given by Russian people practising UK law here,so it's not good.

I have very little in terms of assets built up during the marriage,I've not known where she is,and have not contacted her. I did find a postal address for her,but I think it's just for forwarding . I work as a Ltd co as a driver,paying a low salary and my expenses back each month. I own a buy to let that I let out to my elderly Mum at cost-I make no monthly profit on it,and owned it since 2003. It has been bought under a deed of trust,drawn up back then,with money she gave me to get the mortgage/deposit. I have never lived in it.Obviously it's gone up in value,but hopefully it will be a non marital asset? We lived together only 3 weeks here in a rented property. All I have is a car and about £1000 in the bank,and little else.

In this situation,will the judge take into account the short time living together and that she bought nothing financially? I was used for a visa,basically.

>>In this situation,will the judge take into account the short time living together and that she bought nothing financially?

Yes.

I am glad you posted this because it is something I see a lot of. It is VERY important that you issue a divorce petition as soon as possible. You have already left it longer than you should. The longer you leave it the more likely it is that this woman will make financial claims upon you. You should realise by now that she is very well informed about UK law and that this was almost certainly planned. She will not hesitate to use divorce law to try and get as much as she can from you. At the moment I do not think she is entitled to anything but the longer you leave this you increase the possibility might change.

One way or another people can usually be found in the UK and/or divorce petitions can be served by deemed service. You should not bury your head in the sand about this. You should seek a divorce now. You will almost certainly come to regret it if you do not.

She can still get legal aid though,and I did manage to contact she-she said she's 'abroad' so she will drag it all out. She claims she's an honest woman. I have put in a divorce petition,but couldn't afford to until now because of the debts accrued bringing her here. Address she's using isn't her real one and I don't know where she really is,so she won't return the petition in a hurry.

She will hang it all out as long as possible,and it will finish me financially-I have nothing anyway. Lots of mail order brides do this,claim fake dv and get settlement visas,then divorce.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2020 10:19PM by Markson.

Yes, she will spin it out as long as possible but if you are the one who issues a divorce petition you are the one responsible for progressing it and it is in your interest to progress it as quickly as you can. Sitting on your hands and saying, 'Oh, she won't sign the papers' is not a sensible course of action. One way or another divorces can usually be progressed and progress in a divorce is not dependent upon the respondent signing the papers. If that was the case an unreasonable spouse could hold up a divorce forever. It is for the person who issues the divorce petition to take the necessary steps to deal with that.

Best of luck Markson! As David says, crack on with that petition!