Hello expat friends
A year ago tomorrow I had an orfi marriage with an Egyptian man living in Luxor. I was very happy with him for the first few visits (I continued to live in England and still do, thank God) and then came the requests for money..... It gradually dawned on me that we were making a lot off trips to the cash machine (he told me that everything we wanted to do for our 'honeymoon' (take the little boats across from the West Bank to the East); visit Banana Island (which I later realised has no entry charge!); go to the coffee shops and smoke shisha; have meals out) was very expensive and I was too stupid/in love to question him when he asked me to draw out my daily maximum (£200) from each of my 2 visa cards pretty much every day! Our week's 'honeymoon' ended up costing me about £1200, and then came the news that he had a blood disorder which meant he had to go to Cairo every month for tests - more expense. This has gone on for months, and I am so stressed and deflated (and my illusions shattered) that I now want out. However, I don't have my copy of the orfi marriage certificate. Unfortunately, my 'husband' has both copies - his and mine. I don't know how important it is that I don't have it, but clearly I can't tear it up (as I have been advised to do). To tear it up would mean me going back to Luxor and being asked why I need it :-( What are the implications of him having my copy? When we went for the orfi marriage we had 2 witnesses and went to a lawyers office in Luxor to do it. I am just concerned that there is some onus on me that I don't know about.
Any advice from someone who knows the ins and outs of orfi marriages would be very welcome.
Thanks, Elaine