On 13 March 2026 the Family Court at Liverpool gave judgment in A v R on whether a Lagos divorce should be recognised in this jurisdiction, a question affecting an annulment application.
Key facts
- Who: Married couples where one spouse says a foreign divorce has already ended the marriage.
- From: 13 March 2026
- Source: A v R (Recognition of Divorce) [2026] EWFC 79 (B)
Background
His Honour Judge Sharpe gave judgment in the Family Court sitting at Liverpool, [2026] EWFC 79 (B), on 13 March 2026, after a hearing on 23 December 2025. Both parties represented themselves. The judge refers to them as A (the applicant) and R (the respondent) rather than as husband and wife, because their marital status was the very point in dispute.
Both are Nigerian nationals. They married in Lagos on 16 February 2023. They had first come across each other on an online platform in the summer of 2022, and towards the end of 2022, when they agreed to marry, they had not met in person. R moved to this jurisdiction in 2021 and has made it her personal and professional base. A is settled in Canada.
By an application dated 27 February 2025, issued by the Divorce Court at Bury St Edmunds on 17 March 2025, A sought an annulment of the marriage.
The question
R disputed the court's jurisdiction. She said she had petitioned for divorce in Lagos in October 2023, that a decree nisi was made on 12 December 2024 and made absolute on 11 March 2025, and that the marriage had therefore ended. If that divorce should be recognised in this jurisdiction, A's application would be dismissed for want of jurisdiction.
A said the Nigerian process was a sham that R had fabricated. In the alternative, he said that even if a genuine process took place, the divorce should not be recognised because he had no proper opportunity to engage with it. If it was not recognised, his application could proceed.
The Nigerian proceedings
The judgment records that R's originating documents, including the petition, an affidavit, a certificate relating to reconciliation and an acknowledgment of service form, were served on A on 2 January 2024. The papers included a warning that a failure to take steps could result in orders being made in his absence, and information about the possibility of travel costs being met so that he could attend in Nigeria.
The judge found no indication that A ever returned the acknowledgment of service form. A instead prepared a document headed Response to Petition, dated 17 January 2024, lodged with the Lagos Judicial Information system on 22 January 2024 and emailed to R's attorneys on 24 January 2024. It sought a decree of nullity and other orders against R.
The Nigerian judge's judgment, quoted in the English decision, records that A elected not to respond to the petition or take part. The English judge said it was unclear whether A's own document amounted to a formal answer in Nigeria. Each party had declined an invitation to jointly instruct an expert in Nigerian matrimonial law.
What this means for people relying on or facing a foreign divorce
The judgment shows that when one spouse says a foreign divorce has ended a marriage, whether that divorce is recognised here can determine whether another application, such as an annulment, can go ahead. In this case the court looked closely at what documents were served and how the other spouse responded.
Anyone in a similar position may wish to keep the documents they sent and received and get legal advice.
Sources
- A v R (Recognition of Divorce) [2026] EWFC 79 (B), Family Court at Liverpool, 13 March 2026: https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewfc/b/2026/79