3. If I am involved in a bogus marriage, does this automatically mean a nullity of marriage?
A bogus marriage does not automatically mean a nullity of marriage, and the court has determined whether bogus marriage should be annulled under section 20 of Matrimonial Causes Ordinance (Cap. 179). The petition for nullity is dismissed as under the relevant statutory regime of “grounds for decree of nullity”, there is no mentioning of a bogus marriage being a ground to declare the marriage void.
The Court of Final Appeal has commented that a bogus marriage was still a marriage in the eyes of the law, even if no affection was involved nor the parties had slightest intention of living together or behaving in any way like a married couple - the alleged “bogus” part referred to the application to the Immigration Department for the purposes of which the marriage was entered into.
A petition for divorce rather than a petition for nullity should be filed by a petitioner who wants to end a bogus marriage.
Print
Email