Nullity, and how to void a marriage to a fraudster ================================================== ![Nullity, and how to void a marriage to a fraudster](https://vardags.com/images/pictures/_360/16ab75d9d7601685ecf1e561c4e09e55.jpeg)An Australian woman who was married and divorced by a fraudster without her knowledge, has [won her bid](https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/woman-wins-bid-to-void-fraud-marriage-and-divorce/news-story/bddd8ea5ea3d0ebfbeb4fc175d775aac) this week to have the marriage declared invalid. The woman, known only by the court-provided pseudonym Ms Chou, only discovered the scam in 2014 whilst supporting her partner's visa application. Records emerged which showed that a person with an identity matching her own had married a "Mr Tang" in 2000. Ms Chou suspected that a former boyfriend had sold copies of her identification, seeking to make money from immigration fraud to fund his gambling addiction. "Shocked and distressed", Ms Chou's application to nullify the marriage was rejected and she was told that the marriage had been dissolved by a divorce granted in 2005. Ms Chou returned to court to fight to void both the marriage and divorce. This month Justice Stevenson accepted Ms Chou had had no knowledge of any proceedings. "Accordingly, I find that the purported consent of Ms Chou to the marriage solemnised in 2000 to Mr Tang was obtained by fraud,"she said. Marriages where both parties have not given their consent are invalid in most legal systems. In English law, void and voidable marriages can be annulled by a decree of nullity and a marriage is voidable if either party to the marriage did not validly consent to it because of [duress, mistake, unsoundness of mind or otherwise](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1973/18). The elusive Mr Tang, was not the first to have made an invalid marriage under a false identity. Though a mistake as to your partner's attributes, or as to the effect of the marriage, will not void a marriage, a mistake as to their identity will. The well-known case of *Militante v Ogunwomoju* in 1994 saw a woman granted a decree of nullity after it emerged that the man she married was an illegal immigrant who had lied about his identity. After he was discovered and deported, she had her voidable marriage annulled. In the case of *Small v Small* in 1923, an ex-army deserter tried to divorce his wife and the King's Proctor intervened to argue that there could be no divorce because the marriage was void and had never been legally valid from the start. The deserter had lived under an assumed name to avoid recapture so when the banns were called it was under this assumed name. The judge found that the banns had not been validly published because of the fraudulent intent and the marriage was void. Many have tried to annul their marriage on the bases that their own spouse had defrauded them, rendering their consent invalid. Though void marriages can be annulled on the application of a third party, voidable marriages can only be brought to an end on the application of one of the parties to a marriage. However, while fraud invalidates a contract, marital disappointment does not make for fraudulence*.* Historically and across jurisdictions, in secular and ecclesiastical courts, marriage have been given a special status and set apart from other types of contract. English, Scottish and US courts recognise how inappropriate it would be to apply traditional contract principles to a marriage. Accusations against a fraudulent partner have historically been put to strict tests. The spouse's misrepresentation has to relate to an "essential"aspect of marriage, a test that has been followed in most US states since the 1862 Massachusetts case *Reynolds v Reynolds**,* one of many 19th century cases where the husband sought a decree of nullity for his "unchaste"wife. A second rule is outlined an 1893 Scottish judgment *Menzies v Menzies*, in which Lord Watson intoned that, "error becomes essential whenever it is shown that but for it one of the parties would have declined to contract." "Ayesha Vardag - Britain's top divorce lawyer." ![The Huffington Post](https://vardags.com/images/logo/huffpost.png) "Ayesha Vardag - Woman of the Year"![GG2](https://vardags.com/images/logo/gg2-3.png) "Leading, Magic Circle law firm."Mr Justice Coleridge "A handful of firms dominate the so-called 'glamour' end of the market ... Vardags"The Times "One of the best divorce lawyers in the country"Marie Claire "Ayesha Vardag - 'diva of divorce' for the world's super rich" ![BBC](https://vardags.com/images/logo/bbc.png) "Dr Stephen Bence is a financial genius."Lewis Marks KC "Ayesha Vardag - the Queen of divorce"Daily Mail "Vardags brilliantly argued my case to a resounding victory"Pauline Chai (client) "Britain's top divorce lawyer" ![The Telegraph](https://vardags.com/images/logo/telegraph.png) More Family Law news -------------------- [Forced Marriage Unit 2016 statistics released](https://vardags.com/family-law/forced-marriage-unit-2016-statistics-released "Forced Marriage Unit 2016 statistics released") [Judge grants polyamorous triad shared custody rights](https://vardags.com/family-law/new-york-polyamory-tri-custody "Judge grants polyamorous triad shared custody rights") [Nullity, and how to void a marriage to a fraudster](https://vardags.com/family-law/marriage-fraud-nullity "Nullity, and how to void a marriage to a fraudster") [Scotland to criminalise emotional abuse and neglect of children](https://vardags.com/family-law/scotland-criminalise-emotional-abuse-neglect-children "Scotland to criminalise emotional abuse and neglect of children") [Holman J calls Facebook "a useful tool in the armoury" in adoption proceedings](https://vardags.com/family-law/holman-j-calls-facebook-useful-tool-adoption-proceedings "Holman J calls Facebook a useful tool in the armoury in adoption proceedings") Articles by Thea Dunne ---------------------- [John Oxley tackles the issues of criminal proceedings in the family courts in Family Law journal](https://vardags.com/posts/john-oxley-family-law "John Oxley tackles the issues of criminal proceedings in the family courts in Family Law journal") [Iraqi MP proposes state-incentivised polygamy to help war widows](https://vardags.com/family-law/polygamy-iraqi-war-widows "Iraqi MP proposes state-incentivised polygamy to help war widows") [Nullity, and how to void a marriage to a fraudster](https://vardags.com/family-law/marriage-fraud-nullity "Nullity, and how to void a marriage to a fraudster") [Imminent shake-up to death duties](https://vardags.com/family-law/death-duties "Imminent shake-up to death duties") [Lessons from literary inheritance disputes](https://vardags.com/family-law/inheritance-disputes-fiction "Lessons from literary inheritance disputes")