Applying for financial relief in UK family law courts after a foreign divorce ruling

English and Welsh family law lawyers are continually able to take guidance from the courts as their rulings on new cases add clarification on how certain provisions of the statutes should be applied and under what circumstances.

In March 2010 the Supreme Court made a final ruling on a case which highlighted the circumstances in which an order for financial provision on divorce can be made under Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 (MFPA), where a financial settlement ruling has previously been made by a foreign family law court.

The case involved a Nigerian-born couple who had met and married in England. They were married for 38 years before divorcing in 2005 and had both acquired British citizenship in 1972. Their five children were all born in England and all but one had been educated in the UK.

Since the time of the marriage breakdown in 1999 the wife had lived permanently in England.

In 2003, the husband commenced divorce proceedings in Nigeria. The couple's major assets consisted of two houses in London; both in the husband's name. The Nigerian court awarded the wife life interest in a property in Lagos (found by the Nigerian court to have a value of around £86,000) and a lump sum payment in respect of life-long maintenance equivalent to around £21,000. The total matrimonial assets had been valued at around £700,000.

The wife sought relief in the English family law courts under Part III of the MFPA and Mr Justice Coleridge ruled in the High Court that she should be awarded a lump sum equal to 65% of the proceeds from the sale of one of the London homes on condition that she gave up her interest in the Lagos property. This award amounted to a value of £275,000 and represented around 39% of the total assets.

The husband appealed against this decision and the Court of Appeal overturned Coleridge J's award, ruling that the High Court had not given sufficient weight to the Nigerian connections in the case.

The wife later won the right to take her case to the Supreme Court, the highest family law court in England and Wales, where the major consideration was the proper approach that courts should take when considering Part III applications for ancillary relief after a foreign family law court has ruled unfavourably on the applicant.

The court ruled that in light of the purpose of the MFPA, which is to alleviate any adverse consequences of no, or no adequate, financial provision being awarded by a foreign court, applications under Part III should be applied accordingly.

Giving the court's ruling Lord Collins said that it was not the purpose of the MFPA to allow applicants with scant connections in the UK to take advantage of what might be a "more generous" approach, particularly in high value financial settlement cases. However, he noted that the large disparity between the awards to each spouse given by the Nigerian court in this case was such as to create real hardship for the wife and was a serious injustice.

In such Part III applications, therefore, English courts must consider all relevant factors such as what financial benefit the applicant has already received and whether the applicant has taken advantage of all rights under the applied foreign family law to claim financial relief. Any hardship or injustice resulting from no further award should be taken into consideration, although neither factor is a pre-condition to any award under Part III.

The Supreme Court held that Mr Justice Coleridge's original decision should stand and the High Court's award was upheld.

JMW's family law lawyers can offer advice on Part III applications

To apply for relief under Part III the applicant must have the necessary connections to England or Wales and any financial award will depend on all of the circumstances of the case.

If you feel you have grounds to apply for financial relief under the MFPA, JMW's team of divorce and family law lawyers in Manchester will be happy to discuss your case and to consider the relevant details.

For a "no obligation" discussion regarding the financial settlement aspects of a divorce please contact us on: 0845 872 6666