Planning to start divorce, but not yet done so

I asked about this a while back here, not sure if this still applies now ->

www.wikivorce.com/divorce/Divorce-Advice...rove-my-divorce.html

I am planning to begin divorce proceedings against my wife who I married in October 2008 and have been living with since June 2010 (before June she was living with her parents in her own country).
I was married in an Islamic ceremony in a different country where the marriage was formalized in front of an imam. We haven''t yet had a civil ceremony in the UK.

She has been acting very unreasonably in the 2 years we have been together, and as a consequence, our relationship has broken down and this has left us feeling very depressed and confused about what action to take, but I have now finally resolved to divorce.

The main complication and reason why we have not yet divorced is our child who is now 1 year old (she will probably get custody due to our childs age).

I am 32, she is turning 24 soon.
Neither of us is currently working. I am claiming JSA and Child Benefit, but she is currently not entitled to benefits as she isn''t a British citizen. She has not got ILR, we were supposed to apply for it this week, but since things have broken down so badly I have not even bothered doing anything about this. I am planning to find work soon but have been putting this off since if I did have a job it would possibly affect her claim afterwards (I guess?), so I probably won''t do this until I get a divorce just to be on the safe side.

I am currently the only registered owner of the house, which she says she will not claim against, but I don''t know whether she will change her mind about this when divorce proceedings have begun. There is about £30K equity in it as I only bought it just before she moved to the UK, (May 2010), and there still is a large mortgage left to pay (80k).

We have no other assets, debts or liabilities.

At this point, my greatest concern is for my child who I am worried she will cart off back to her country to live with her and her parents and siblings. The child does have a passport, is it possible to get a stop placed on this so she can''t take the child out of the country? It''s probably better just to take the passport for now I guess, to stop her from making any rash moves.

Also is it worth trying to get her to sign a document which effectively forfeits her claim in my house and would such a document hold any weight in court?

The main things I''d like to know are whether she is actually going to be given much by a judge if this eventually goes to court? What am I likely to lose/be told to pay out?

I do want to sort it out amicably without involving a court, but this may be unlikely considering her temperament right now.

Having read your previous thread, I think you''re not in an actual legal marriage?

If so, and her name is not on your house deeds, then it''s your house. She''s probably not able to do anything.

To prevent her taking the child abroad, you should apply for a prohibited steps order ASAP.

Would the fact that the marriage has not been formalized here have any impact on what she can claim?

Yes, if you''re not legally married in the UK then she can''t claim squat. Apart from child support of course. In the eyes of the law you''re effectively an unmarried couple.

Oh wow, seriously? Is that the answer my prayers or what!

The only worrying aspect is that she will now feel she has no other choice but to try and take our child away with her if she runs back to her parents. I''m already reading up about the prohibited steps order.

Yes, although I would listen to the advice of the wise rubytuesday in your old thread, I don''t know much about Talaq divorces or the impact that could have on your financial situation. But it seems they have to be initiated by the man, so you should be safe to just do nothing!

Was the marriage legally registered in the other country or was there just a religious ceremony? A legal marriage abroad is recognised as a legal marriage in the UK.