Law Assignment

Question 1

"To force anyone into marriage against their will is simply wrong and that is why we have taken decisive action to make it illegal." David Cameron June 2012.

Critically analyse the present law on forced marriages and the government proposals to make forced marriage a criminal offence.

(40 marks)

Question 2

Saira & Naz have been married for 12 years and they have two children from the marriage, Jasmine aged 11 and Javid aged 8. Javid is autistic and attends a special school. Saira also has a daughter Rosie (17 years) from an earlier marriage who has never known her natural father because he was killed in a road accident before she was born. However Naz was more than happy to regard her as his own. She is doing well at school and is hoping to go to university next year.

The family live in a 4-bedroomed property in Bradford that was Naz’s before he married and is worth £145K. The house is in Naz’s sole name. There is an outstanding mortgage of £45K. Saira has a part-time job at the local primary school as a school meals supervisor that brings her in a wage of £6500 per annum. Naz is a sales manager earning £35K per annum with the additional benefits of a company car and pension. He also owns other properties worth £60K net which he rents out, obtaining a rental income of £15k per year.




Recently Naz has felt that he has nothing in common with Saira. She says she is tired from looking after Javid all the time and she never wants to go out. Although they still sleep together, Naz finds their sex life very predictable. He has had a couple of affairs with other women although he says that this has not meant anything to him. Naz has decided that there is no future in the marriage but he knows that Saira has strong religious beliefs and will not agree to a divorce.

(a) Advise Naz whether he can obtain a divorce. (15 marks)

(b) If Saira and Naz do divorce explain how the courts will deal with property and finance for the spouses and children and, giving full reasons, explain the likely orders the court will make. (45 marks)