Akhter v Khan: Islamic marriages and will disputes

A recent family law case has highlighted a hole in the legal protection of Islamic couples whose ‘marriage’ may be considered a void marriage in English law, or may not be a marriage at all.

The case of Akhter v Khan [2018] EWFC 54 in the family court found that an Islamic Nikah marriage ceremony performed in England did not comply with the requirements to render it a valid marriage in English law. In this case, rather than finding that there was no marriage at all however, the judge found that in these very specific circumstances, there was a ‘void marriage’, which meant that the wife was entitled to an annulment, and therefore the legal rights that came with that. 

Read the full article here.