Acted for the husband in the reported case of SA v FA [2022] EWFC 115

I acted for the husband in the reported case of SA v FA [2022] EWFC 115. This case involved a British expat living in Abu Dhabi with his South African wife of 14 years. They had lived their whole married life in Abu Dhabi and had two sons who had been born there and had always lived there.

The wife issued divorce proceedings in England on the basis that both were domiciled in England and Wales. The husband contested the jurisdictional basis for the divorce taking place in England, stating that neither party were domiciled there or alternatively, that the Abu Dhabi court was the more convenient forum to hear the divorce because they were living there, and the majority of the assets were there.

Whilst the Judge did find that both parties were domiciled in England and Wales, meaning that the wife‘s divorce petition was entitled to be heard there, nevertheless the Judge held that the more convenient forum for the divorce to be dealt with was the new Non-Muslim Family Court in Abu Dhabi.

The husband was therefore successful in establishing that the divorce should take place in Abu Dhabi and no doubt this case will have significant impact on British expats who will now have to consider whether the Non-Muslim family court is the more appropriate forum and not the courts of England and Wales.