Ellie Foster analyses the court’s recent application of the Barder principles to a pension sharing order and whether the correct procedural route was adopted In Goodyear, it was necessary to understand the rationale for the pension share agreed, particularly given the flexible nature of pensions and the fact that in many cases they are treated …
Continue reading "Set aside: Right outcome, wrong route?"
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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 …
Continue reading "Pt III, MFPA 1984: End of the road?"
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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 …
Continue reading "Barder: Exceptional and rare"
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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? …
Continue reading "Financial provision: A long shot"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | October 2015 # 153Having entered into a pre-nuptial agreement, WA (‘the wife’) married HA (‘the husband’) in 1997. The wife was an heiress and the husband brought modest assets of his own to the marriage. They kept their finances separate. The couple and their three children lived on a very large estate (‘the Z estate’) during the marriage and restored it using the wife’s finances.
The marriage broke down in 2014. Both the wife and husband instructed expert family lawyers which supported the brokerage of an agreement. Following disclosure of their respective gross and net incomes, it was agreed tha...
Beth Mason and Georgia Day look at the Court of Appeal decision in Critchell and what may constitute a Barder event ‘There have been many attempts to set aside orders based on a Barder event, but the courts have been reluctant to let such applications succeed and the threshold for success is high.’ Family lawyers …
Continue reading "Barder Appeals: Finding closure"
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In the conclusion to a two-part analysis, Frances Bailey and Claire Glaister look at the options when seeking to set aside a consent order ‘To successfully set aside a consent order on the basis of common mistake it must be shown not only that there was a common mistake, but that that mistake was fundamental …
Continue reading "Setting Aside: Playing the odds"
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Mark Harper and Will MacFarlane discuss M v M, which has lessons on attacking real estate held by offshore companies ‘Both Prest and M v M are examples of the Family Division having to apply complex principles of property law.’ For those who advise clients as to how to structure the purchase of UK real …
Continue reading "Trusts And Divorce: Striving for a fair result?"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | December 2013 #135The transcript of this judgment is reported in part from para 164 onwards and starts with a discussion of the law. No part of the report provides a factual narrative.
Held (allowing the wife’s claim for financial relief):
The court had power on divorce to order a party to the marriage to transfer to the other party such property as may be so specified to which that party was entitled, either in possession or reversion. In this case almost all the wealth created by the husband during the course of the marriage was held through offshore company structures and the ques...
Hannah Clark analyses the limited circumstances in which the courts will reopen a final financial order ‘The courts are paying clear regard to the floodgates argument, through their restrictive application of the principle of finality in litigation and their constant reiteration of the extraordinariness of Barder events.’As family lawyers, we are well accustomed to the …
Continue reading "Financial Provision: Revisiting orders"
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