Variation: To vary or not to vary

Heather Souter summarises the key considerations on an application to vary a financial consent order and the approach of the courts Unless there has been a significant change of circumstance since the order was made, grounds for variation under s31, MCA 1973 seem hard to conceive. The full financial impact of the global pandemic is …
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Periodical payments: No second bite

Katherine Dunseath and Joanne Wescott examine the Supreme Court decision in Mills v Mills, and the approach to variation of periodical payments subsequent to a capital order ‘Where a capital order has previously been made for housing, an obligation to duplicate that provision is “improbable”.’ In Mills v Mills [2018] the Supreme Court allowed the …
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Periodical Payments: Seeking closure

Ellie Foster examines the impact of changed circumstances on applications for variation of periodical payments ‘It is critical to advise the payer of their ongoing vulnerability for capitalisation; it is an obvious way for the court to achieve the holy grail of a clean break.’ There is life after divorce and any ongoing financial relationship …
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Lump Sum Orders: Dual purpose

In the first of a two-part back-to-basics guide Jane Booth explores the types of lump sum order that may be made, together with drafting tips and practice points ‘The distinction between multiple lump sum payments and a single sum payable by instalments is relevant if the need for variation arises.’ On divorce, dissolution, nullity or …
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Capitalised Maintenance: Last orders?

Huw Miles looks at the finality of orders and why and how financial orders may be varied ‘Grocholewska-Mullins is an example of a living and variable order going through varying states of health, with a judge attempting to use the resources now available to achieve a belated clean break.’ When a court makes a financial …
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AR v AR [2011] EWHC 2717 (Fam)

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | April 2012 #118

The parties separated after a relationship of approximately 25 years and the wife commenced divorce proceedings (decree nisi being pronounced in October 2010). They had one child who was aged 18 (the husband had three children by his first marriage). The husband was aged 66 and the wife 54.

The total wealth was in the region of £21-£24m (all but approximately £1m was in the husband’s name). The source of the husband’s wealth was a business that his father bought shortly after the second world war, which floated in the 1950s and sold in the late 1980s. From his father, the husband ...