Rupi Rai reviews the courts’ treatment of debts in financial proceedings, particularly in cases involving family loans ‘The courts consider the steps taken by all parties when money is loaned very carefully, together with the behaviour of parties after the money is loaned, and when and why the loan is recalled.’ The family courts are …
Continue reading "Liabilities: A question of obligation"
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Helen Cort discusses how economic uncertainty can impact on the divorce rate, and the potential pitfalls that may be encountered if divorce proceedings are delayed until more certain times ‘It is vital for spouses to seek advice on the tax implications of separation, divorce and any proposed settlement at the earliest opportunity.’ It may be …
Continue reading "Delay: Proceed to go"
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Elizabeth Simos looks at issues of conduct and non-disclosure, and the impact where adverse inferences are drawn in needs cases ‘Arguments as to add-backs essentially come down to issues of conduct, namely conduct that it would, in the opinion of the court, be inequitable to disregard.’ Much to the dismay of ‘wronged’ spouses in England …
Continue reading "Conduct: Balancing the scales"
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Simon Fisher looks at arguments in favour of an add-back in a case also concerned with fabricated liabilities ‘When making a decision on an add-back, the court must identify a wanton dissipation.’ In R v K [2018] Baker J looked at the issue of add-backs and alleged fabricated liabilities in a financial remedy case. The …
Continue reading "Conduct: Reclaiming assets"
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Natasha Kurth suggests that arguments as to conduct should be rare in financial proceedings, and approached with caution ‘In R v B each party accepted that the conduct allegations raised could amount to conduct that it would be inequitable to disregard, but denied that the factual position justified such a finding in this case.’ The …
Continue reading "Conduct: The blame game"
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Sarah Passemard looks at the development of case law on add-backs based on financial conduct ‘Even where it appears that one party may have indulged in risky financial behaviour, it may not be appropriate for there to be an add-back, or indeed for any kind of financial misconduct to be pleaded.’ One website described the …
Continue reading "Financial Provision: Behaving badly"
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Frances Bailey considers the courts’ approach where a party’s conduct during proceedings is in issue ‘An analysis of any add-back argument must also include an analysis of what both parties have spent and that the argument must be analysed in context.’ As ever, the law reports are seemingly full of cases where one party’s approach …
Continue reading "Litigation Conduct: Drawing inferences"
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Max Lewis looks at the lessons to be learnt from Evans v Evans on managing expectations, contributions and add-back argument The court retains jurisdiction to decide the true nature of an order and must assess what the parties agreed against the ‘objective factual matrix of what occurred during the relevant period’. Moylan J’s judgment in …
Continue reading "Substantial Assets: Setting ground rules"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | July/August 2012 #121H and W married in December 1993 when W was 32 and H was 62. They have three children aged between 17 and 12. H’s first wife died and he had four children, (the elder children) from that marriage – all now adults aged over 35. His second marriage ended in divorce, but he had no continuing financial ties to his second wife. W had not been married before. Her limited assets, £152,000, the net sale proceeds of her flat, had been invested in an investment portfolio supplemented by contributions from H (including a transfer of shares worth £2.477m). H was the chairman of a com...
Gareth Curtis looks at the approach taken by the court in the big-money case of F v F on a range of complex assets ‘This case affirms the high threshold that must be met to establish that matrimonial assets have been recklessly disposed of to reduce the pot of assets available to meet a spouse’s …
Continue reading "Financial Provision: High stakes"
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