If there has been an element of force or duress involved in your marriage by members of your family or community then you may have what is called a forced marriage.  This will need to be examined and seen from an objective stand point and the fact that yours was an arranged marriage alone is not sufficient to qualify.

We can assist you to obtain a divorce or if you prefer a decree of nullity.  This would be on the basis that you did not validly consent to your marriage and it whether in consequence of duress, mistake, unsoundness of mind or otherwise.

This will make your marriage voidable from the date the decree is pronounced by the court rather than void from the beginning, the marriage is held to have existed until it is actually avoided  The advantage in nullity as against divorce proceedings is that it could help you to avoid stigma within your community.  Public Funding is available for nullity proceedings.

We will also ensure that you have a full list of other services that are available both locally and nationally particularly the ones that have experience of assisting women escaping from forced marriages and domestic violence.

After a decree of nullity all the usual powers of the Court and the full range of ancillary relief orders are available in relation to children, property and finances.

Under normal circumstances clients are often referred to mediation or to a collaborative lawyer to see if an alternative method of resolving the issues could be achieved.  However this will not be appropriate in a forced marriage situation.  We would seek to rely on negotiations between us and your husband’s solicitors including meetings between those solicitors when appropriate and taking the matters to be decided by the Court if necessary.

There is a National Plan for domestic violence which included the setting up of the Forced Marriage Unit for joined up interdepartmental working between the Foreign Office and the Home Office if the forced marriage took place abroad and the parties are still living abroad.