JJ v PJ

Facts

The husband, aged 77, born in America and now an Irish national living mainly in Cyprus, applied for permission to bring a claim for financial relief under Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 following the parties' overseas divorce in Russia. The wife, aged 51, born in Uzbekistan and holding dual Russian and British citizenship, says she lives mainly in Cyprus; the husband understands her to be living in Serbia. The parties met in Tashkent in January 2007, first lived together in Kabul, married in Moscow six months later, and acquired property in Moscow, Dubai and England. In December 2009 the husband bought a house in [City X] for £2.5 million through a British Virgin Islands trust, which became a family base while the children were schooled in England. A marriage contract was entered into in Russia in 2012. The wife obtained a final order of divorce in Russia on 30 December 2015; the parties reconciled and remarried in Cyprus on 31 July 2018, before a second Russian divorce concluded on 7 September 2023. The wife remarried in Serbia in March 2025 and later divorced. The husband's application was filed on 28 January 2026. The wife no longer opposed permission but sought a stay pending divorce proceedings she had issued in Cyprus on 28 April 2026.