Family courts caught up in divorce ‘scam’

Family courts in the UK appear to have been caught up in a scam involving couples from Italy who have allegedly faked UK residency in order to be able to get divorced in this country, reports the Telegraph.

In Italy, couples are required to be separated for three years before they can legally divorce. However, under European legislation, couples can divorce in other EU member states if they have obtained residency there, often much quicker than they could do at home, and have this divorce recognised in Italy.

The scam was only discovered when court officials realised that 179 of the 180 couples thought to be involved had each used the same UK address as the residence of their 'UK residing' party - that of a post office box in Maidenhead. The remaining couple had apparently used an address in Surrey.

Simon Murray, for the Queen's Proctor, commented that: “On the facts currently available, it appears that residence requirements were not met in any of the said 180 petitions,” reports the Telegraph.

As a result, Sir James Munby, president of the English Family Division, has apparently been asked to overturn the divorces that were granted in all affected cases.

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