Financial provision: Exploring the options

Ellie Foster considers a decision of Mostyn J on set aside and transparency in financial remedy proceedings In assessing unforeseeability in the context of a change of asset value, the court should focus on the economic impact of the event rather than its cause or nature. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 …
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Pt III, MFPA 1984: End of the road?

Ellie Foster and Claire Hunter question whether the idiom ‘till death us do part’ really applies where money is concerned In Hasan, Mostyn J identified clear inconsistencies between the courts’ treatment of a party pursuing an undetermined claim on death as against appealing a decision on death. Claims under Pt III, Matrimonial and Family Proceedings …
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Barder: Exceptional and rare

Cate Maguire looks at how the Barder principle has been applied in cases involving ‘known unknowns’ Neither of the decisions in S v T and HW v WW represent a restriction or characterisation of the Barder principle, but rather affirmation of its exceptionality, even in these most unusual times. The family courts have recently had …
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Consent orders: A matter of interpretation

Kayleigh Biswas sets out the issues encountered in Derhalli v Derhalli, where the delayed sale of a former matrimonial home led to a plethora of litigation To ascertain the meaning of an order, the court would need to consider what a reasonable person, having all the background knowledge, would have understood the order to mean, …
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Financial provision: Risky business

David Wilkinson analyses a recent decision on an application to set aside based on the impact of Covid-19 on asset values In FRB v DCA (No 3), a dearth of evidence regarding the specific impact of the pandemic on the husband’s extensive asset base, which ranged across various countries and industries, coupled with unfavourable findings …
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Financial provision: A long shot

Ellie Foster looks at the potential ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic and the likelihood of a successful application based on Barder There have been pandemics historically but does the immediate and ongoing impact on the global economy of Covid-19 put the 2008 crisis in the shade such that its scale could never have been foreseen? …
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Procedure: Not a dress rehearsal

Ellie Foster and Eleanor Cawthra highlight the issue of finality of judgments, the ability of a judge to change their mind and the submission of further evidence ‘Allowing disappointed litigants the impression that the court will accede easily to the introduction of fresh evidence after judgment, that they could have adduced at first instance had …
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