Woman was unaware she was divorced after her signature was forged, family court judge rules 

A woman was unaware she was divorced for 12 years after her signature was forged on official documents, a judge has ruled.

Rachpal and Kewal Randhawa were married at Slough register office, Berkshire, in 1978, according to the Times.

The couple separated in 2009 but still attended family functions as husband and wife and although there had been rumours that Mr Randhawa had a child with another woman, Mrs Randhawa said she was unaware he had remarried.

A woman was unaware that she was divorced for 12 years after her signature was forged on official documents by or on behalf of her husband, a family court judge has ruled (file image)

Now, a family court judge has set aside their divorce after ruling that Mrs Randhawa’s signature had been forged and as a result, she was not aware of the divorce proceedings.

The decree, filed in 2010, was nulified by Judge Moradifar who, according to the Times, said that Mr Randhawa was ‘the only person with opportunity and motive to ensure that the divorce proceeded without difficulties’.

The newspaper reports that Mr Randhawa had married another woman in 2011 with whom he had a child and that Mrs Randhawa was aware of rumours that he had a child with another woman but did not know he had married her.

It comes as no-fault divorces are set to become legal from April this year after years of campaigning for laws which make divorce less antagonistic for both parties.

New long-awaited laws are set to come in in April this year which will permit no-fault divorces

Under the new laws, couples will be able to get divorced solely on the basis that the marriage has broken down, without needing to cite one of the official grounds for divorce such as adultery or unreasonable behaviour.

This means that if the couple agrees to a divorce and the divorce is amicable or uncontested, there won’t be a requirement for one person to blame the other for the breakdown of the marriage.