Family Law Hub

Maintenance

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  • An arbitration had taken place to resolve pension division, spousal maintenance, and the division of assets pertaining to shares and a redundancy. The husband felt that there had been a miscalculation of the wife's income, affecting the amount of spousal maintenance due. Ms Clare Ambrose, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, dismissed the application. The arbitrator's conduct fell far short of making this a case which required court intervention. Judgment, 22/07/2019, free
  • After some delay, the husband sought a stay of a periodical payments order, arguing that the judge had fallen into error in treating his future earning capacity as a matrimonial asset which could be shared. In circumstances where there was no final version of the judgment, nor a sealed order, Francis J held that it was unfair to hold the relevant time limits against the husband. He agreed that the judge had been plainly wrong, and reduced the annual payments from £150,000 to £68,000. This hearing had been listed for only a day, causing further delay, and he stressed that there is a general duty on counsel and solicitors to inform the court if a time estimate is plainly incorrect. Judgment, 22/07/2019, free
  • A freezing order on a property was due to be reconsidered. It had been made in favour of Mrs Chaudhri following default in the payment of a lump sum. Mostyn J found that the applicant had twice failed to pursue her claim in relation to the property, and it would be a manifest abuse were a claim now to be allowed to be mounted and protected by a freezing injunction. The freezing order on the property was discharged, but the worldwide freezing order made earlier would remain in force and be transferred to the Family Court. Any further applications for freezing relief should be made to the same Family Court and heard only at High Court judge level. Judgment, 31/05/2019, free
  • The wife applied for financial remedies, having had a freezing order granted on some of the husband's funds. The husband had instructed solicitors but failed to engage in proceedings, and after he was found to lack capacity to litigate the Official Solicitor was appointed. Moor J rejected the wife's case for a second home in London, but came to the conclusion that an appropriate budget was £175,000 per year for the rest of her life, making for an overall award of over £7 million. She was also awarded five additional maintenance payments to reflect that she would be kept out of her money for five years. Judgment, 20/05/2019, free
  • MacDonald J initially concluded that the judge's award exceeded the wife's housing need. However, following the circulation of his draft judgment, his attention was drawn to a significant material omission in the figures that had underpinned those conclusions, and he decided that the manner in which the judge chose to structure the disposition was not after all wrong, and the husband's appeal was dismissed. Judgment, 10/04/2019, free

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