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Neutral Citation Number:	2013 UKUT 436 AAC
Reported Number:
File Number:	CG 185 2013
Appellant:	SA
Respondent:	Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (BB)
Judge/Commissioner:	Judge N J Wikeley
Date Of Decision:	05/09/2013
Date Added:	10/10/2013
Main Category:	Bereavement and death benefits
Main Subcategory:	bereavement payments
Secondary Category:	Marriage, civil partnerships and living together
Secondary Subcategory:	Validity of marriage
Notes:	Reported as [2014] AACR 20 Bereavement benefit – validity of marriage – how evidence for a foreign marriage to be tested Evidence – what weight to be attached to a statutory declaration against all available material evidence The appellant’s deceased husband, Mr A, had come to the UK from Pakistan. In 1975 he pronounced a talaq divorce of a Mrs J, via a statutory declaration sworn in England, and married the appellant, Mrs A, in Pakistan. She was granted entry clearance to the UK. In 2004 Mr A successfully claimed retirement pension including the adult dependency increase for Mrs A. Mr A subsequently died and Mrs A claimed bereavement benefit. The Secretary of State refused her claim on the basis that she was not a widow; this was because as Mr A was living in the UK he could not have entered into a polygamous marriage abroad and his talaq was ineffective. During the First-tier Tribunal (F-tT) hearing it was argued, amongst other things, that Mr A’s only marriage was to Mrs A, while the alleged marriage to Mrs J was a fraud designed to take advantage of the child tax allowance system. The F-tT inferred from the statutory declaration that Mr A had married Mrs J and rejected the appeal. The issues before the Upper Tribunal (UT) was how the evidence for a foreign marriage should be tested and what weight should be attached to a statutory declaration. Held, allowing the appeal, that: 1. the F-tT placed so much weight on the statutory declaration as to err in law and also failed to engage properly in the process of weighing it against all of the other available material evidence (paragraphs 18 to 25); 2. the Secretary of State had failed to show that Mrs A was not validly married and the weight of the available evidence satisfied the judge that, notwithstanding the statutory declaration, there was no previous marriage (paragraph 47). The judge set aside the decision of the F-tT and re-made the decision, confirming the appellant’s entitlement to bereavement benefit.
Decision(s) to Download:	[2014] AACR 20bv.doc