Divorce, petitioner in UK resopondent in Pakistan

someonecool

My husband divorced me 3 years back through a sharia court so I left UK with my daughter and came back to Pakistan to live with my parents. In feb 2013 my ex husband filed for custody of my daughter in Pakistani court and it is still in process. (Along with the maintenance )
Now I have received his filing of divorce from the UK along with the settlement of children. I wanted to know what are my legal rights. I have to face both the courts (my country's and the UKs) to deal with all his petitions??

Please help

P.S He is habitually resident in t he UK

the_pink_panther_2

Sorry. I honestly think for this one you need specialist legal advice.

I think if you were also resided in UK, courts usually see in favour of the mother, but your and your ex's residences probably makes the situation more complex and likely only a specialist could advise.

Gigglepig

Please get legal advice. There might be 3 different answers depending on wether you go to an English court, a Pakistani court, or a Sharia court in the UK.

I think under Sharia the father would have custody of a female child if seven years old or older, or if you remarry... so perhaps it is best for you to settle this in a normal English court not a sharia court.

Voyager2002

As others have said, get proper legal advice.

Clearly it would be a nonsense for the same issue to be put through two completely legal courts. I am fairly sure that the the forms that your (ex) husband would have completed in order to bring proceedings in England included a declaration that there were no divorce proceedings in any other court. That declaration was false, so you could force the withdrawal of the English proceedings simply by letting the court know that there are proceedings in Pakistan (and perhaps also in a separate Sharia court).

However, I would imagine that a court in the UK would be more likely to reach a settlement favourable to you than one in Pakistan. Since proceedings have been brought against you in several courts, you are now in a position to choose. You could insist that your (ex) husband settle everything through the UK legal system and withdraws proceedings in Pakistan, and encourage him to do so by mentioning that you know he deliberately made a false declaration in his divorce filing, and suggesting that it would not help him if this fact were to be made known to the authorities.

southcoastrgi

Having read the link below, I am absolutly gobsmacked that this is allowed to go on in Britian in the 21st century,
OP for gods sake go through a British court if you can as it's the only way you will get justice, forget the Pakistan court & that bloody stupid Sharia court (who have absolutly no business even being in this country),

It's about time that every woman regardless of colour or race, woke up to the fact that they are not 2nd class citizens & deserve to be treated properly & not abused & treated like dirt just because the "men" (& i say this very loosly because they aren't real men) think they are better & can do what they like.

Grrrrrrrrrrr things like this make my blood boil.

Link

meritaten

does Pakistan accept the legality of a Sharia court? Do you intend to remain in Pakistan and bring up the children there? if so, then why bother about another countries legal system? I think you need legal advice in your own country - take notice of that and ignore all others.

someonecool

Thank you every one for helping me out. Its like a ray of light in so much confusion.

Well I want to stay in Pakistan as I all my family members are here. I don't intend to go to the UK as I have really bad memories of my relationship there. Well I wanted to know even if I ask my ex to drop all the charges here in Pakistan and when the UK court goes with the proceedings then would it be mandatory to attend the court for me in the UK??.

OR

can the UK court stop the proceedings in the UK and I let the Pakistani court decide the issues for me. And even so after decision has been reached by Pakistani court can my husband go to UK court later and try to reach a settlement there???

Also when I think of getting legal advice in Pakistan and ignoring all the rest then one thing comes into my mind that my ex would keep on using UK legal system to drag me during the settlement. I am dead scared of the cost involved.

the_pink_panther_2

OP, I don't know the answers, but I know someone who might be able to give me at least some of the answers to your post #7. I won't be able to find out today, but if you keep checking this thread over the next few days then if I do get somewhere with your questions, I'll add what I know to this thread, when I find out.

someonecool

Thank you so much pink panther. I would be waiting for your response. I am really tensed as I am not a UK national , my ex husband married me here in Pakistan and I went on dependent visa with him. My daughter was born there and when he divorced me I had no other option but to leave the country. Now I don't know what to do. I cant go to court there its too costly and I wont be able to pay or even attend the court.

meritaten

you are not a UK citizen then - so why would you go there to attend a court which has no jurisdiction over you? stay put in Pakistan. and you should get legal advice about the custody case he is persuing out there. I think he has a snowballs chance of removing the children out of your care and take them to the UK! a member of my family married a Pakistani man and she couldn't legally get out or take the children out. she did it illegally. and had to divorce him over here. So I wouldn't worry too much hun - I think legally you are quite safe and my best advice is to avoid the UK. one word of warning - watch those kids like a hawk.

Voyager2002

meritaten wrote: »

you are not a UK citizen then - so why would you go there to attend a court which has no jurisdiction over you? stay put in Pakistan. and you should get legal advice about the custody case he is persuing out there. I think he has a snowballs chance of removing the children out of your care and take them to the UK! a member of my family married a Pakistani man and she couldn't legally get out or take the children out. she did it illegally. and had to divorce him over here. So I wouldn't worry too much hun - I think legally you are quite safe and my best advice is to avoid the UK. one word of warning - watch those kids like a hawk.

Bad, bad advice!

In Islamic societies, the man is traditionally responsible for the children after divorce. So if the OP wants to retain custody of her children it is in her interest for the case to be decided by a British court.