One we should have spotted sooner…

In Tousi v Gaydukova [2023] EWHC 404 (Fam), Mr Tousi was an Iranian national and Ms Gaydukova a Ukrainian: both had UK citizenship [3]. They were married at the Iranian Embassy in Kyiv in 1997 but the marriage was not “registered” with the Ukrainian state authorities. According to Ms Gaydukova, they were well aware of the need to register and on three occasions she attempted to do so, but Mr Tousi refused to cooperate [5]. Mr Tousi argued that “he chose not to register the marriage because he saw it as a celebratory social event in which he was uninterested” [6].

The couple moved from Ukraine to the UK in 2001 and in 2010 a Housing Association gave them the tenancy in their joint names of a property in Notting Hill [8&9]. They separated in 2019 [10].

In September 2021, Ms Gaydukova applied for the transfer of tenancy of the former matrimonial home into her sole name. Continue reading →