Financial Arrangements on Divorce

Our team advises and supports clients wishing to resolve disputes regarding the distribution of income and assets at the end of their marriage.
For many years we have all worked at the highest level, representing clients (from all over the world) nationally and internationally, and from all walks of life.

Our approach is very straightforward; never over promise, never over charge, and always listen by treating the work that we do as a collaboration with our clients. 

Our work is both national and internationally focussed or has an international aspect to it. We are widely connected to professionals across the world, many of whom we have established close working relationships with.

The division of assets and income cannot be assessed by any formula, and there is no “50/50 rule”. 
There is some law dating back to 1973, which lists what must always be considered when dividing the income and assets.

(a) the income, earning capacity, property and other financial resources which each of the parties to the marriage has or is likely to have in the foreseeable future, including, in the case of earning capacity, any increase in that capacity which it would, in the opinion of the court, be reasonable to expect a party to the marriage to take steps to acquire;

(b) the financial needs, obligations and responsibilities which each of the parties to the marriage has or is likely to have in the foreseeable future;

(c) the standard of living enjoyed by the family before the breakdown of the marriage;

(d) the age of each party to the marriage and the duration of the marriage;

(e) any physical or mental disability of either of the parties to the marriage;

(f) the contributions which each of the parties has made, or is likely, in the foreseeable future, to make to the welfare of the family, including any contribution by looking after the home or caring for the family;

(g) the conduct of each of the parties, if that conduct is such that it would, in the opinion of the court, be inequitable to disregard it;

(h) in the case of proceedings for divorce or nullity of marriage, the value to each of the parties to the marriage of any benefit which, by reason of the dissolution or annulment of the marriage, that party will lose the chance of acquiring. 
The reality is that the approach will always be a combination of sharing the wealth of the marriage, and meeting the needs of the family.

We recognise that the truth can sometimes be hard to find, and so we work closely with other professionals to drill down into what we have been told, and search for that which we have not.

Family resources sometimes need protecting at the outset, and we are often asked to take steps through the courts to make sure that they are still accessible at the end.

Our Experience

• Representing a wife in respect of a multi-million, complex fruit farming business.
• Representing a husband enforcing the terms of a prenuptial agreement, and preserving pre-marital assets in a number of countries.
• Representing a wife in her financial claims where addiction played a significant role.
• Representing a wife in her sharing claim to assets exceeding £600m.
• Representing a wife, resident in the Gulf, in her claims against worldwide assets including a game park.
• Representing a number of wives in respect of their claims against the multi-generational wealth of their husbands.

Advising and representing in the following

• Hvorostovsky v Hvorostovsky (2009) EWCA Civ 791 (Variation of Maintenance)
• BJ v MJ (Financial Remedy Overseas Trusts) [2011] EWHC 2708