Zau & Ruk

[2014] FamCA 709

FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA

ZAU & RUK [2014] FamCA 709

FAMILY LAW – NULLITY – Application by the husband and wife seeking a decree of nullity – foreign marriage – consideration of whether the marriage is recognised as valid under Australian law – where the husband was married to first wife and still married at time of second marriage – whether a foreign marriage that is not required to be recognised as valid under Australian law is void – marriage declared null and void.

Family Law Act 1975 (Cth)

Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) ss 51, 88A, 88C(1)(a), 88D(2)(a), 94

In the marriage of Teves III and Campomayor (1994) 18 Fam LR 844

FIRST APPLICANT: Mr Zau

SECOND APPLICANT: Ms Ruk

FILE NUMBER: MLC 2888 of 2014

DATE DELIVERED: 29 August 2014

PLACE DELIVERED: Melbourne

PLACE HEARD: Melbourne

JUDGMENT OF: Macmillan J

HEARING DATE: 1 July 2014

REPRESENTATION

COUNSEL FOR THE FIRST AND SECOND

APPLICANT:

Mr Ogge

SOLICITOR FOR THE FIRST AND

SECOND APPLICANT:

Neil Ogge Lawyers

ORDERS

IT IS ORDERED THAT

1. The marriage solemnised at City B in the Country C in 2013 between Mr Zau and Ms Ruk is declared to be absolutely null and void.

2. The initiating application for a decree of nullity filed 7 April 2014 be otherwise dismissed and the matter be removed from the list of cases awaiting hearing.

IT IS NOTED that publication of this judgment by this Court under the pseudonym Zau & Ruk has been approved by the Chief Justice pursuant to s 121(9)(g) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).

FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA AT MELBOURNE

FILE NUMBER: MLC 2888 of 2014

Mr Zau

First Applicant

And

Ms Ruk

Second Applicant

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

1. The application listed before me in the Judicial Duty List on 1 July 2014 is the application filed 7 April 2014 on behalf of both the husband and wife. In that application the parties seek a decree of nullity on the grounds that at the time of their marriage in City B in 2013 the husband was still married to another person.

2. Both the husband and wife have filed affidavits in support of the application. The parties both affirmed their affidavits with the assistance of an interpreter. They have also filed a certified English translation of the original marriage certificate issued by the Civil Administration Ministry of the Country C.

3. Although this is an application for a decree of nullity of marriage, I will for the purposes of these reasons refer to the parties as “the husband” and “the wife”.

Background

1. The husband was born in City B in 1950 and is now 64 years of age. The wife was born in City B in 1968 and is now 45 years of age.

2. The husband deposes that in 1997 he married Ms D in Melbourne. On 26 March 2013 the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia (as it then was) at Melbourne made a divorce order in relation to his marriage to Ms D. That divorce order took…