Major Divorce Issue

Hi gents,

I’ve just come across this forum and thought I would gain some advise on a massive issue I’m in.

I divorced my previous partner in 2018, with no issues and remarried soon after.

My previous partner and I had been separated since around 2007 and had lost complete touch. Both moved on without divorce. Although technically married it was not an issue to get divorced as I was happily single and not met anyone that needed me to get a divorce. Assuming the same for her. If I’m honest, never even crossed my mind.

When I finally met someone, I tried to find my ex and was given an address by a family friend which I used for court papers and was duly granted a divorce. All great and divorce went through without issue and I remarried.

Recently, my ex partner who I’ve recently crossed paths with, is claiming she never knew about the divorce, wasn’t served papers and has never lived at the address the court papers were sent to. She also claims that she has never signed anything. She seems more annoyed that wanting anything. She’s with someone with kids, and seems happy.

She has given me an ultimatum to have the divorce cancelled due to papers not being served correctly, and then apply again and do it properly. She said she is not looking for anything, just wanted it done properly for principle sake.

My current wife is very understanding and is of the thinking if it gets cancelled, our marriage will naturally be void and therefore we can get married ‘again’!

My issue is, have I committed bigamy, and therefore a crime?

How would the courts see this? And where do I stand in my current marriage.

Complete and utter mess, I know!!

Your advise would be really appreciated.

I think I can lay your mind to rest about bigamy. So far as you (and a court) were concerned you did obtain a divorce before remarrying. Unless it can be shown that you deceived the court and deliberately obtained a divorce by fraudulent means it is extremely unlikely you would be prosecuted for bigamy (let alone receive any significant sentence).

On the issue of whether you should get the original divorce set aside you should speak to a solicitor in order to go through the facts carefully and consider your options. This is too delicate an issue to try to deal with on your own. You do need proper legal advice. Bearing in mind that you have already obtained a divorce, that you have remarried, that your ex wife is living with someone else and that you separated in 2007 the obvious answer is to get her to accept the divorce and move on. She may not be prepared to accept that from you but possibly a solicitor acting on your behalf may be able to persuade her. Bearing in mind that you had been separated for about 11 years before you obtained your divorce it seems reasonably clear that there were good grounds for the divorce so to that extent there seems little to be gained by getting another divorce.

Cheers for the reply David.

You can imagine how anxious I am about the potential prosecution of this.

In all honesty, I have no issue with going back to the courts via a solicitor, as you mention, and giving them the facts and asking for it to be cancelled, and then start the process again, as you quite rightly state, the ultimate outcome won’t change.

She is adamant that she wants the divorce cancelled, due to her not knowing about it, and I’m happy to do that providing I’m not jumping from the pan into the fire. I’m not sure a solicitor would be able to persuade her, but I will give it a go.

The other factor is, if I don’t ’give’ her what she wants, ie cancel and start again, I’m assuming she can then lodge some sort of claim herself, and I wouldn’t then be the one bringing the matter to the courts attention, hence making it worse for myself, at least on face value.

The fact is that she can't get the divorce annulled simply because she didn't know about it. People can get a divorce based on five years' separation even when the other spouse cannot be found, let alone served with the papers. That is not the test. The test is whether every reasonable effort was made to locate the other spouse and to serve the papers. Sometimes there are good reasons why a divorce is granted without the other spouse even being aware of it. Some people do, for instance, dliberately disappear in order to make it difficult/impossible to locate them and/or serve papers.

It is because of things like this that you really need to speak to a solicitor and go through the details carefully in order to have advice tailored to your exact circumstances. There are so many things that can affect how this should be handled. That is why you need proper and informed advice.

Thanks again David.

I’ll get intouch with a solicitor this week and see where it leads.

Really appreciate your advise/help.