Application to declare marriage void ab initio — duress — Family Proceedings Act 1980, ss 29-31 — Pao On v Lau Yiu Long [1980] AC 614 — S v W FC Auckland FP 004/1054N/00, 14 June 2002 — Hirani v Hirani (1983) 4 FLR 232 — SS v SK [2011] NZFLR 1030 (FC). The applicant sought for her marriage to the respondent be declared void ab initio on the grounds of duress. During the parties' short relationship, the applicant submitted that the respondent had engaged in physically and emotionally manipulative behaviour towards her to the point where she felt unable to say no to the wedding, which occurred some three-four months into the relationship. The respondent did not engage in the proceedings except to file a request for an adjournment and to note that he disputed aspects of the applicant's evidence. At the time of the hearing he was awaiting trial on criminal charges alleged to have been committed against the applicant after the wedding. The starting point for an application for a marriage to be declared void ab initio is the presumption that both parties consented to the marriage. It is for the applicant to show, on balance of probabilities, that consent did not occur. The most recent cited case sets a framework for assessing the statutory criteria: there must be a reason advanced for why the marriage should be declared void ab initio; the reason must have been in existence at the time of marriage; and the reason must have resulted in the absence of consent. The applicant submitted that the behaviour engaged in by the respondent was to such a degree that she feared for her life and that consent to the marriage therefore did not exist at the time of marriage. The Judge agreed that the applicant's ability to choose not to go through with the wedding was non-existent by the wedding date. The Judge noted that the respondent's pending criminal trial was irrelevant to the determination, as this had occurred after the wedding. The Judge declared the marriage between the parties void ab initio. Judgment Date: 18 September 2020. * * * Note: names have been changed to comply with legal requirements. * * *