After a wife in a divorce case alleged that her husband, our client, had failed to make full and frank disclosure, JMW’s family law team were successful in resisting all but one of the wife’s allegations and limiting our client’s exposure.

The Case

JMW acted for the husband in a long-running divorce and financial remedies case. The parties had attended arbitration where an arbitral award was made, but the parties could not agree the wording of the order to reflect that award.

The wife subsequently applied to the court for an order that the arbitral award should be set aside on the basis that the husband had not provided full and frank disclosure during the arbitration process.

How Did JMW Help?

JMW strongly resisted the wife’s case and made powerful submissions in relation to the client’s duty of disclosure. As a result, we successfully defended all but one of the wife’s numerous allegations of fraudulent non-disclosure against the husband.

Following our successful result, the judge made a decision that removed the husband’s requirement to meet any shortfall on the sale of the former matrimonial home made in the initial arbitral award. This essentially reflected a costs order against the wife in the sum of £250,000. While the judge also made a costs order against our client in the sum of £200,000, it was a remarkable result that the decision against the wife was of greater value than the costs order against the husband.

This case was unusual and technical, but JMW was able to get a grip on the facts, act swiftly and form a strategy from the outset. Throughout the process, our family law team advised the client on how best to approach the case through a strategic and commercial lens and protected his position as far as possible.

The Outcome

Our client was grateful that JMW did not give up the fight at any point in the process and formulated sophisticated arguments on his behalf. We were able to identify what was important to the client and give realistic advice on the likely outcome.