We have summarised the following cases on the Financial Remedies Journal website since the last issue went to press, and now present these as a summary of summaries. Visit the ‘Cases’ tab on the website to search a compendious back catalogue of financial remedies cases via their keywords.

A v B [2022] EWFC 149 (HHJ Reardon)

Decree of divorce pronounced notwithstanding that marriage was void for bigamy, as no formal application for annulment had been received. Keywords: nullity; validity of marriage

A Wife v A Husband [2022] EWFC 154 (HHJ Vincent)

A claim for an upward variation of child periodical payments 8 years after the parties had initially resolved their financial claims was dismissed in the absence of the requisite change in circumstances. Keywords: cohabitation of the recipient of spousal maintenance; child maintenance; conduct; variation applications

AB v CD [2022] EWFC 116 (Roberts J)

A second set-aside application was struck out on the basis that the applicant ought to have raised the relevant allegations of material non-disclosure in the first rehearing some years before, at which time the parties had compromised all of their claims. Keywords: valuation of shares; setting aside orders (including Barder applications); striking out applications

AIC Ltd (Respondent) v Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (Appellant) [2022] UKSC 16 (Lords Hodge, Briggs, Sales, Hamblen and Leggatt)

Consideration of the principles to be applied on an application for reconsideration of a judgment after the giving of an oral judgment and before the sealing of the formal order. Keywords: principle of finality; appeals; judicial discretion

ARQ v YAQ [2020] EWFC 128 (Moor J)

£80m of assets transferred from the husband to the wife for the purposes of tax minimisation were found to be matrimonial property, but were shared unequally due to their pre-marital origins. Keywords: matrimonial and non-matrimonial property; sharing; add-backs; trusts; tax; needs

BK v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions & LB [2022] UKUT 282 (AAC) (HHJ Rowland)

F’s appeal of a child maintenance assessment on the basis that the Child Maintenance Service had used too high a figure for his gross income was allowed in part. Keywords: child support; appeals

Renée v Galbraith-Marten [2022] EWFC 118 (Mostyn J)

The applicant mother, who was already subject to an extended civil restraint order, received permission to bring a variation application in respect of child maintenance, but not in respect of a Schedule 1 application for capitalised school fees. Keywords: child maintenance; Children Act 1989 Schedule 1 applications; variation applications; experts; civil restraint orders

Cazalet v Abu-zalaf [2022] EWFC 119 (Mostyn J)

An application for the set aside of a decree nisi was dismissed in circumstances where the wife argued that there had since been a reconciliation, and where the actual length of the marriage would have a significant bearing on sums payable under a pre-nuptial agreement. Keywords: agreements; divorce

CF v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2022] UKUT 271 (AAC) (HHJ Wikeley)

Decision set aside by the Upper Tribunal where F’s first appeal had wrongly been dealt with on paper without a hearing. Keywords: child support; child support appeal procedure

Clarke v Clarke [2022] EWHC 2698 (Fam) (Mostyn J)

Appeal allowed where the respondent’s director’s loan account had been taken into account incorrectly in valuing a private company, and where a discount had wrongly been applied to the value of said company. Keywords: valuations; companies; appeals

CMX v EJX (French Marriage Contract) [2022] EWFC 136 (Moor J)

A needs-based award provided to the wife on the basis that she ought to be held to the terms of a French marriage contract notwithstanding the lack of independent legal advice and formal disclosure of each party’s resources. Keywords: needs; agreements; pensions on divorce

Collardeau-Fuchs v Fuchs [2022] EWFC 135 (Mostyn J)

A pre-nuptial agreement was found to have created a separate property regime and to have waived spousal maintenance. The judge awarded secured child periodical payments, providing guidance as to the assessment of the same. Keywords: secured provision; Duxbury capitalisation; agreements; Children Act 1989 Schedule 1 applications; child maintenance

Dixon v The Crown Estate Commissioners [2022] EWHC 3256 (Ch) (HHJ Hodge KC)

A successful proprietary estoppel claim following the dissolution of a company which still held the legal title to two properties, meaning that the properties had seemingly unintentionally vested in the Crown. Keywords: proprietary estoppel

Quashie v Solomon [2022] UKPC 34

Appeal dismissed in circumstances where, a financial order having been made many years previously by former spouses in respect of some property, but not implemented, their daughter had applied successfully to establish an interest in this property via estoppel and constructive trusts. Keywords: proprietary estoppel

Guest v Guest [2022] UKSC 27

The Supreme Court gave guidance as to the proper approach to the granting of relief under the doctrine of proprietary estoppel. Keywords: proprietary estoppel

HA v WA & Anor [2022] EWFC 110 (Sir Jonathan Cohen)

The court heard a beneficial ownership dispute in which the wife succeeded in establishing that her brother was the beneficial owner of a property held in her name. Keywords: trusts

Hudson v Hathaway [2022] EWCA Civ 1648 (Lewison, Andrews and Nugee LLJ)

The Court of Appeal confirmed that detriment remained a requirement of a constructive trust whilst finding that the relevant property had in fact been expressly disposed of through the operation of LPA 1925, s 53 via a signed email. Keywords: detrimental reliance; TOLATA claims; signature; LPA 1925, s 53

J v H [2022] EWFC 133 (Peel J)

Application for a freezing injunction dismissed where the procedural prerequisites had not been fulfilled and where there was not sufficient evidence to warrant the order sought. The husband was ordered to pay the wife’s costs. Keywords: costs; freezing injunctions

Boughajdim v Hayoukane [2022] EWHC 2673 (Fam) (MacDonald J)

The court held in favour of a wife who sought a divorce in the face of a husband who averred that there had been no valid marriage, following a Moroccan court’s decision that the parties had satisfied the legal conditions for marriage there. Keywords: lex loci celebrationis; estoppel per res judicatam; validity of marriage

Nicolaisen v Nicolaisen [2022] EWFC 70 (Moor J)

In a case involving large assets and a range of competing fora, an applicant wife’s petitions in England were dismissed for want of jurisdiction because she was not found to have been habitually resident for the requisite period. Keywords: forum; jurisdiction; forum disputes

P v P (Treatment of Costs in Sharing Cases) [2022] EWFC 158 (DDJ David Hodson)

The judge provided for an adjustment to what would otherwise have been an equal sharing award to reflect the large disparity in legal costs expended by the parties. Keywords: sharing principle; add-backs

Parveen v Hussain [2022] EWCA Civ 1434 (Moylan, Asplin and Stuart-Smith LLJ)

The Court of Appeal determined that, notwithstanding that a wife’s previous divorce was not entitled to recognition under the FLA 1986, it had been nevertheless effective on the proper application of the law on capacity, bearing in mind wider policy objectives. Keywords: validity of marriage; conflict of law; divorce; nullity

Pierburg v Pierburg [2022] EWHC 2701 (Fam) (Moor J)

The wife brought a Part III application after withdrawing from proceedings conducted in Germany. Having sought to resile from an agreement to compromise the application, executed shortly before the final hearing, the wife was nevertheless held to its terms. Keywords: repudiation; overseas divorce and the 1984 Act; jurisdiction; agreements

PP v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions & SP [2022] UKUT 286 (AAC) (HHJ Wikeley)

A father successfully appealed a re-assessment of his child maintenance liability on the basis that the variations made in respect of unearned and diverted income had been incorrectly reached. Keywords: child support; appeals

Ralph v Given [2022] EWHC 2395 (KB) (Freedman J)

An application for summary judgment in relation to an application to deliver up an Aston Martin DBX and a Range Rover Sport against a former fiancé failed on the basis that the respondent had a real prospect of success in defending the claim. Keywords: cohabitation; gifts; summary judgment; chattels

SA v FA [2022] EWFC 115 (HHJ Hess)

A jurisdiction dispute was resolved with the UAE being determined as the appropriate forum for a financial remedies application, bolstered by undertakings offered by the husband. Keywords: forum; jurisdiction; domicile; divorce

Stacey v McNicholas [2022] EWHC 278 (Fam) (Moor J)

An unsuccessful appeal from an order that the father, in circumstances where the court lacked jurisdiction to award child periodical payments, should pay a series of lump sums to the mother to cover rental payments. Keywords: Children Act 1989 Schedule 1 applications

TM v KM [2022] EWFC 155 (HHJ Hess)

An award made, in part, on the basis of the compensation principle where the wife had sacrificed her status as a higher earner in favour of her family commitments. Keywords: compensation principle

W v H (Contested Divorce) [2022] EWFC 150 (HHJ Greensmith)

In contested divorce proceedings the wife was not able to establish that the husband had behaved in such a way that she could not reasonably be expected to live with him. The case had involved the use of a ground rules hearing in order to determine participation directions for the husband, who had Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Keywords: defended divorce; intermediaries

WD v MH [2022] EWFC 162 (Recorder Rhys Taylor)

The court gave effect to an agreement made in previous judicial separation proceedings in 2008, uprating the value of a key asset in accordance with its increase in value during the intervening years in order to quantify a needs-based award. Keywords: costs; agreements; delay

XO v YO & Anor [2022] EWFC 114 (HHJ Hess)

In a case with international elements and a non-disclosing husband, it was held, inter alia, that the court had jurisdiction to determine a claim in relation to a property in Miami, and that adverse inferences could be drawn from the husband’s failure to engage in the proceedings. Keywords: conduct; Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts and Their Recognition; jurisdiction; disclosure; foreign assets

YC v ZC [2022] EWFC 137 (HHJ Hess)

An award based on a needs-based departure from equality after a long marriage, including an adjustment that the wife would have to amortise her Duxbury fund because of her excessive spending on legal costs. Keywords: Duxbury capitalisation; add-backs; pensions on divorce