Financial Claims After Divorce Lawyers.

No. Getting divorced ends your marriage, but it does not sever the financial ties you have with your former partner. In addition to getting your decree absolute, you also need a court to approve a legally binding financial settlement with your former partner called a Consent Order. If you don’t, it is possible that they may have a claim against you at any point in the future.

To completely sever your financial ties with your former partner, you need to secure a Clean Break Order. A Clean Break Order stipulates that the Consent Order ends any on-going financial relationship between you and your former partner. In circumstances where the division of assets and debts is relatively straightforward, needs can be met and there is no uncertainty about the future financial situation of either party, we would usually advise a Clean Break Order is sought, as it provides certainty and closure.

This may not be possible in all cases, as there may need to be an on-going financial relationship between you and your former partner (to support one party’s income needs for example). There may be uncertainty about either party’s employment situation, or the outcome of a property or business sale, which may mean that you want to delay finalising the formal end of your financial relationship. In such cases, it is important to be as clear as possible about which elements of your financial relationship remain intact and how the relationship will ultimately be severed. It is possible to agree to a deferred Clean Break Order, which will come into force once specified conditions have been satisfied (the sale of property, for example).

Reasons why people choose to bring a claim against a former partner obviously depend on the individual circumstances, but they can include:

• Not having resolved financial issues at the time of the separation or divorce/dissolution of Civil Partnership – and realising the need to do so subsequently.
• Subsequent events which change the financial circumstances of either party – such events must cause a significant or “material” change to one party’s financial circumstances. This could be due to one party earning or inheriting a large sum post-divorce, which the other feels they are entitled to a share of.
• One party deciding that the original settlement was unfair – this could be due to the intentional, or unintentional, non-disclosure of relevant facts (such as a promotion or job offer) or undervaluation of an asset which has a significant impact on the agreement.
• One party believing that they were pressurised into the original settlement.

There is no time limit on claims made post-divorce. If a party’s financial claims have not been dismissed by order of the court, so long as that party has not remarried, it is open to either party to make a claim at any point in the future. The significance of this has been made clear by decisions in the courts, in particular the famous case of entrepreneur Dale Vince.

Vince’s first wife claimed against him over 20 years after their divorce, following the success of a wind turbine business Vince had established following their separation. This business had made Vince extremely wealthy, far more than either party could have foreseen when they separated. At the time, the modest financial circumstances of both parties led to them not finalising their financial settlement, which meant that Vince’s former wife’s claim was successful.

Vince argued that the marriage had ended too long ago for the claim to be valid, and that his former wife was not entitled to a share in his new wealth as it was earned long after their separation. The court disagreed, with Lord Wilson of the Supreme Court emphasising “the potentially life-long obligations which attend a marriage”.

Cases such as this highlight the need for a formal financial settlement, no matter what your current financial circumstances. The court will fully consider all the individual circumstances of any claim, no matter the length of time since separation, so it is vital to safeguard yourself from any future claims if you can. We will support you in finalising the most appropriate outcome possible, to minimise the risk of any post-divorce claims.

If you remarry before making a claim against your former partner, you may not be able to do so following your remarriage. As always, your individual circumstances will be relevant to whether a claim can be made. If you intend to remarry before your financial settlement from your previous relationship has been finalised, it is advisable to get legal advice about protecting your position.

The most important thing is to formally indicate your intention to pursue a financial claim before you remarry, either by issuing your financial application or by indicating that you intend to do so on the Divorce Petition.

This restriction on making a claim only works one way: only the party who remarries is unable to make a claim. As such, if your former partner remarries, but you do not, it remains open to you to make a claim against them.

If you are intending to remarry before your financial settlement from a previous relationship is resolved, speak to us so we can provide the best advice about securing your position.