Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

AP v JP: HRA victim status rejected; declaration of nullity unavailable; MCA 1973 s11 not read down; implications for pre-2014 same-sex ceremonies and GRCs (England and Wales)

Published on: 14 June 2024

Published by a LexisNexis Family expert

Legal News

Article summary

AP v JP and another [2024] EWHC 1197 (Fam) What are the practical implications of this case?

The court characterised this as an ‘unfortunate’ and ‘unusual’ matter, the intricacy of which justified appointing an advocate to the court to assist. AP’s difficulties in securing legal recognition of his and JP’s ongoing relationship arose squarely from the terms of MCA 1973, s 11 as they applied at two particular moments in time. First, in 2009—the date of their initial marriage ceremony—MCA 1973, s 11(c) expressly provided that any purported marriage between two people of the same sex was void. That statutory bar in turn fundamentally unravelled AP’s first application, issued in 2018, for a declaration under section 55(1)(a) of the Family Law Act 1986 (FLA 1986) that the 2009 marriage was ‘at its inception a valid marriage’ (emphasis added). In short, the outcome flowed from the statute’s position at those times and the legal consequences it imposed on AP’s efforts at recognition...

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