Divorce and Financial Issues

Divorce and martial finances

Mr A instructed Franklins to advise him on how to achieve a divorce from his then wife, and how to tackle the inevitable financial issues that arose as a result. By the time Mr A came to see us, Mr A had been married to Mrs A for just over 5 years, having been in a relationship and lived together for some 20 years. They have 2 adult independent children. Their relationship had been under strain for some time, but it did not survive the COVID pandemic. Mrs A left the former family home as soon as lockdown restrictions were lifted.

A breakdown in communication and a change of heart

When Mr A initially instructed us, he said that he thought Mrs A had already issued a divorce application, and the couple had also reached agreement in principle as to what should happen to their assets. However, Mr A had not received any correspondence about the divorce, or indeed from solicitors that Mrs A had apparently instructed. Soon after our initial meeting, Mrs A then made it clear that she was unwilling to communicate further directly with Mr A, and that all communications had to be via her solicitor. She also said she was no longer willing to proceed on the basis of the agreement in principle reached directly between the couple. It is thought this change of heart came about as a result of Mrs A finding out that Mr A was, by this time, in another relationship.

Unreasonable settlement demands led to a family court application

We struck up a line of communication with Mrs A’s solicitors and were able to establish quite quickly that it was unfortunately not going to be possible to resolve the financial issues arising as a result of the divorce amicably and by consent. Mr and Mrs A were so far apart in what they wanted to achieve – Mrs A was adamant that Mr A should take no assets whatsoever from the marriage – and in her words “walk away with nothing.” We advised Mr A that Mrs A’s position was wholly unreasonable and that the settlement she was proposing was not within the range of orders the court was able to make, given the circumstances of the case. We advised Mr A that without making a court application, given Mrs A’s entrenched position, it seemed unlikely the matter would be brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

Financial remedy proceedings resulting in a equal division of family assets

We quickly and accurately gauged the positions of the parties and established that unfortunately the only option in this matter was to issue court proceedings, known in these circumstances as “financial remedy proceedings.” Contested financial remedy proceedings routinely involve 3 hearings but this litigation concluded after the second of the three potential hearings on the basis that all matrimonial assets, including the former family home, should be divided equally between Mr and Mrs A. Whilst it did take time and money to get to that point spending that time and money proved worthwhile – as a result of the litigation the former family home was sold giving Mr and Mrs A £250,000 each – when Mrs A’s desired outcome would have meant she retained everything.

Experience and knowledge of the family courts is crucial to achieving a fair result

Our ability to “read the room” early on, and establish that matters could not be resolved out of court, was really valuable in this case. We used our experience, judgment and of course knowledge of what the court was likely to order to inform Mr A about the likely outcome of the court proceedings so that he could make an informed decision on whether to engage in court proceedings or not. Once he made the decision to issue we did so quickly, meaning time was not wasted on negotiations which in all likelihood would only have increased costs for both parties without there being any related / tangible benefit whatsoever.

You can find out more about our Family Law services by clicking the link. Alternatively you can contact one of the Franklins Solicitors teams’ in either Northampton or Milton Keynes.