Anna-Laura Lock and Anisha Patel analyse the courts’ approach to third-party financial support and when the pressure of entering into an agreement may be considered ‘undue’ Peel J noted in WC v HC that the function of the court is to distribute the parties’ resources, rather than the resources of their wider families. In WC …
Continue reading "Nuptial agreements: Keeping it in the family"
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Sophia Leeder outlines the approach to interim orders in a case where a party has delayed in making their application and spent excessively in the meantime, as well as key practice points Where jurisdiction is in dispute, this does not prevent the court from making an interim order, but in MG v GM Peel J …
Continue reading "Financial remedies: A battle royale"
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Andrew Smith provides a guide to the key principles to be applied on an application for maintenance pending suit and procedural points Maintenance pending suit will often not be reflective of longer term periodical payments and so it isn’t particularly necessary to go into longer term need for expenditure, especially that which is needed post-financial …
Continue reading "Maintenance pending suit: Reasonable and required?"
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Alice Rogers examines applications for maintenance pending suit and useful practice points arising from a decision of the Court of Appeal As practitioners, we are duty bound to ensure that maintenance pending suit applications are only brought if proportionate and necessary, while advising parties of the litigation risk, particularly in light of the court’s wide …
Continue reading "Maintenance pending suit: In the here and now"
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Nicola Wilburn-Shaw looks at the role of the forensic accountant in financial remedy proceedings, including potential issues that may be explored and possible solutions Practitioners should be alive to the relevance of Covid-19 and experts will most certainly, and indeed should, now incorporate a valuation in relation to both the pre and post Covid-19 trading …
Continue reading "Forensic experts: In-depth analysis"
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Holly Tootill, Clare Williams and Hannah Pilling ask how, when and why third parties should be joined to financial remedy proceedings The issue of joinder of other parties is now routinely raised in every case where there is even a hint that there may be a third-party interest. The power of the court to join …
Continue reading "Third parties: To join or not to join"
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David Wilkinson reviews the court’s approach in a case involving conduct, multi-faceted litigation and a family business ‘It is arguable that a “predicament of real need” would be exactly what the husband would have been in had the final order penalised him in terms of his conduct.’ Cohen J’s judgment in TT v CDS [2019] …
Continue reading "Financial provision: Path of destruction"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2019 #175Following decree absolute in October 2017, the husband sought a lump sum payment from the wife, out of two discretionary trust funds of which the wife was settlor, with a combined value of £17.5m, the trustee of which was an offshore company. The beneficiaries were the ‘family members’ of the settlor. The letter of wishes directed the trustee to act on the advance of her father. The trusts were created in June and August 2015 and funded by the wife’s father, via the wife, between March and June 2016, the wife passively facilitating their funding. Although the source of the funds in the t...
Claire Blakemore suggests that when dealing with trust assets, even the powers of the family courts have their limits ‘Any inconsistencies between how the trust is used or the trust documentation and the presentation to the court can have a significant impact on the outcome.’ The law on the treatment of trusts on divorce is …
Continue reading "Trusts: A safe foundation"
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Lehna Hewitt reviews the courts’ approach to cases where an order may be made on the basis of assets owned by a third party ‘There will be occasions when it becomes permissible for a judge deliberately to frame his orders in a form which affords judicious encouragement to third parties.’ The recent Court of Appeal …
Continue reading "Third Parties: Crossing the line"
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