Huge Number of Fraudulent Divorces in the UK: Judge Overturns 180 of Them. Why?

Seeing your Northern Virginia divorce in a broader cultural context can be illuminating.

You may be less interested in what your divorce “means” to society than you are in getting your life in control and protecting your children. Nevertheless, challenge yourself for a few minutes to consider your situation in a bigger context…

A well-regarded family judge in Britain just overturned 180 divorces obtained by Italians. He dubbed the scandal “a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice on an almost industrial scale.”

Wow! So what happened?

Attorneys for the Crown argued that “the [Italian] divorces were procured by fraud” in an attempt to circumvent the legal divorce process in Italy, which mandates that couples who want to split have to separate for three years legally before doing so. Apparently, these 180 couples just didn’t want to wait, so they went to England to break off their unions early.

Authorities in the UK noticed the scheme back to 2012, when 179 divorce petitions listed an identical address. Sir James Mundy, who argued the case for the Crown, wryly noted “given the dimensions of the mailbox, it is clear that not even a single individual, however small, can possible reside in it.” The judge agreed that the petitioners deceived the English court “[inducing it] to accept it had jurisdiction to entertain the petitions.”

Obviously, we are talking about illegal business that transpired overseas and involved very different court systems and laws than the ones that govern divorces in Northern Virginia. But the story does shows the crazy lengths people can go to when they want to get out of marriages.

Even if you were desperate to separate from your wife or husband because of act of an infidelity or a lack of loving kindness, would you go to a foreign country and defraud that country’s system to get the divorce? Would you risk the dire legal consequences?

Avoid annoying or legally troublesome complications with your case: connect with a qualified Northern Virginia divorce lawyer early in the process to get effective guidance. Call DiPietro Law Group, PLLC today to schedule a confidential consultation with us at (888) 530-4374.

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