NOURI & YAVARI

In the Family Court of Australia, Ms Nouri applied for a divorce from Mr Yavari. The parties, both born in Iran, were married in a religious ceremony in Iran in 1995. The core of the dispute centred on the validity of this marriage, as the Iranian State did not recognise the specific religious faith under which they were married, and initially, the wife believed no formal government registration had occurred. The parties had lived together for 22 years, separated in 2017, and had two children, the youngest of whom was 16 and resided with the wife.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether a valid marriage existed between Ms Nouri and Mr Yavari, which would then allow for the granting of a divorce order under section 55A of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). This required the Court to consider the validity of a foreign marriage under section 88C(1) of the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth), specifically whether the marriage was recognised as valid under Iranian law at the time of solemnisation, or if it could be recognised as a common law marriage.

Justice Berman reasoned that while the Iranian State did not initially recognise the religious faith's marriage ceremonies as valid under its law, a subsequent development allowed for the registration of such marriages on personal identity papers. The Court noted that the wife's Identity Certificate, issued by the Iranian authorities, recorded the marriage as registered in 1995. Based on this registration, the Court found that a valid marriage existed pursuant to section 88C(1) of the Marriage Act. In the alternative, the Court was prepared to declare that the parties had undergone a valid marriage ceremony at common law, referencing principles from cases like *Savenis v Savenis and Szmeck* and *Hooshmand & Ghasmezadegan*.

Having found that a valid marriage existed, and being satisfied that proper arrangements had been made for the infant child of the marriage, the Court made orders for divorce. The Court dispensed with the requirement for a formal Marriage Certificate, noting the registration of the marriage on the wife's Identity Certificate, and granted a divorce order in respect of the marriage solemnised in 1995.