He refuses to divorce!!!!

[confused100]

Hey everyone..I hope i am posting in the right section.
I am an EU citizen who has lived in the UK for 7 years now. I married an African national on a student visa (suspecting his intentions were to use me for ILR). Anyhow, we had a massive argument and I have not seen him in 2 years and completely forgot I was married. I want a divorce now! He said he will not sign any divorce documents because he wants me to wait for another year in order for him to get something out of it. He verbally abuses me and my family and is behaving very selfish. I am very angry at the moment because this is really holding me back from enjoying my current relationship. I dont know where he lives anymore because he has moved, and he constantly changes his telephone number...the only contact I have is msn chat. I feel tempted to inform Immigration about this scam wedding, but will i implicate myself as well?

Please help me
Regards

[2012]

Hey everyone..I hope i am posting in the right section.
I am an EU citizen who has lived in the UK for 7 years now. I married an African national on a student visa (suspecting his intentions were to use me for ILR). Anyhow, we had a massive argument and I have not seen him in 2 years and completely forgot I was married. I want a divorce now! He said he will not sign any divorce documents because he wants me to wait for another year in order for him to get something out of it. He verbally abuses me and my family and is behaving very selfish. I am very angry at the moment because this is really holding me back from enjoying my current relationship. I dont know where he lives anymore because he has moved, and he constantly changes his telephone number...the only contact I have is msn chat. I feel tempted to inform Immigration about this scam wedding, but will i implicate myself as well?

Please help me
Regards

1. Report him to the immigration asap.
2. It is not going to harm you as u identified why he married you so just report him.

[John]

I have not seen him in 2 years and completely forgot I was married. I want a divorce now!

Have you spoken to a Family Law solicitor? Did your husband desert you? And now for more than two years? If yes, then that is grounds for divorce.

You not knowing where he is? Courts have a way of getting round that.

But you do need to seek legal advice about this.

[confused100]

1. Report him to the immigration asap.
2. It is not going to harm you as u identified why he married you so just report him.

Thank you very much...this sound reassuring.

[confused100]

I have not seen him in 2 years and completely forgot I was married. I want a divorce now!

Have you spoken to a Family Law solicitor? Did your husband desert you? And now for more than two years? If yes, then that is grounds for divorce.

You not knowing where he is? Courts have a way of getting round that.

But you do need to seek legal advice about this.

Hi John
No i havent spoken to a solicitor yet because I know for sure that he is trying to pull a fast one. We met in London but he has always lived in bristol...we were in a long distant relationship and maintained this after we got married. However, I felt as though he was using me to get his visa and after confronting him about this we had a massive argument and thats when I lost touch with him. I just continued living my life as normal! I am in a relationship now and my husband randomly called me asking me for a few documents, in order for him to apply for something. I told him that we need to get divorced and he just threatened that he wont sign any divorce papers until he has gotten his 5 year stay!!! I really thought that it would be better to inform immigration rather than a lawyer since he deliberately avoids contact with me in order not to be found just in case i go through with the divorce

[John]

I told him that we need to get divorced and he just threatened that he wont sign any divorce papers

OK, so he refuses to go down the route of 2 years separation by consent. But there are other routes that might be available, and you should speak to a Family Law Solicitor.

[1sppandey]

Hi, pls dont get offended by this as I am not implicating anything but it is known that non-uk or EU people marrying UK or EU citizens to become legal citizens of UK. Both the parties know whats going to happen and usually the UK or EU citizen gets a payment for being used for this purpose and due to the nature of the transaction there is no legal contract or binding for payment as its done on mutual trust. Usually 50% at the marriage time and the reminder once the other person gets his citizenship status.

I am not saying that yours is such a case but in case it is then be careful how you go ahead with the legal route. If the truth comes out (if that is the case) then you may also land in trouble. As you should have reported this much earlier and frankly your comment that you FORGOT that you were MARRIED..!!! is far fetched and will never stand up in court (thats just my opinion)

Sorry if I offended you as thats not my intention and I realise that its a sensitive issue but I just wanted to share my point of view.

I am not a practicing lawyer but have done LLB so know a thing or two about law.

[confused100]

I didn't get paid for it.
He pretended to be in love and I was too naive to fall for it. I married at a young age - straight after uni.
For him to refuse to sign any divorce papers even though we have not seen each other in almost 2 years is weird.
I'm not too sure if I can get into trouble by just running to immigration and letting them know so I appreciate your insight.

[John]

For him to refuse to sign any divorce papers even though we have not seen each other in almost 2 years is weird.

In the UK in order to get a divorce it is necessary to show that the marriage has broken down irretrievably, but a number of different ways to show that. A way that is commonly used is "2 years separation, by agreement", and if that is used, by definition, both spouses need to sign.

However there are other ways, such as adultery, and desertion for at least two years, and to initiate such proceedings only one spouse needs to sign. And as you do not know his address, well Courts have a way of getting round that.

So do speak to a Family Law Solicitor! And do not accept his refusal to sign anything as a total block to you getting divorced. It is up to the Court to decide whether to grant a divorce, not him.

[confused100]

In the UK in order to get a divorce it is necessary to show that the marriage has broken down irretrievably, but a number of different ways to show that. A way that is commonly used is "2 years separation, by agreement", and if that is used, by definition, both spouses need to sign.

However there are other ways, such as adultery, and desertion for at least two years, and to initiate such proceedings only one spouse needs to sign. And as you do not know his address, well Courts have a way of getting round that.

So do speak to a Family Law Solicitor! And do not accept his refusal to sign anything as a total block to you getting divorced. It is up to the Court to decide whether to grant a divorce, not him.

Thank you very much John. I will definitely speak to a family lawyer. I didnt know there were scenarios where only 1 signature is required. I feel better now.

[John]

From your internet chats, do you know if he is living with a girl, or that a girl is staying overnight with him? If yes, well that is adultery and could be used as grounds for divorce, even if you do not know of the name and address of the girl concerned.

[confused100]

From your internet chats, do you know if he is living with a girl, or that a girl is staying overnight with him? If yes, well that is adultery and could be used as grounds for divorce, even if you do not know of the name and address of the girl concerned.

Not from the chats, but I am sure that within the last 2 years he had affairs or is even in a relationship. The last chat we had, he actually said that he has contacted a lawyer and apparently I don't have a case because I cant force him into a divorce