Wife ordered to pay husband £120k after trying to thwart settlement

A wife has been ordered to pay her husband £120,000 after trying to thwart the terms of their divorce settlement.

Amy Fallows Senior Associate Solicitor & Head of our Family Law team reports.

The Family Court heard that the couple had run a property lettings business together. All the properties were in the wife’s sole name, as was the matrimonial home.

A final order was made in 2021 that provided for a roughly equal division of assets by selling three of the rental properties (Properties A, B and C) for the husband’s benefit, while the wife retained the matrimonial home and other assets.

The wife frustrated the execution of the order in several ways, including refusing to authorise the marketing and sale of the properties, granting new tenancies on them in breach of court orders, borrowing additional money against Property B in breach of an undertaking, and voluntarily surrendering Property A to its mortgage lender.

This resulted in the husband having to rapidly sell Property A at an undervalue. Properties B and C remained unsold.

In 2022, at a hearing she failed to attend, the wife was ordered to pay to the husband, by periodical payments, the rental income she had received on the properties. 

The wife submitted that the 2022 order should be set aside because she had been unable to attend the hearing for reasons of ill health. 

The husband argued that the wife’s actions had caused him significant losses. He submitted that the original capital division in the 2021 order should be adjusted to compensate him.

The court found in favour of the husband. 

It held that it was not appropriate to set aside the 2022 order. It was not acceptable for the wife to avoid attending court on the basis that she was too unwell to participate when at the same time she was taking active steps to avoid complying with the settlement order. 

If you would like more information about the issues raised in this article or any aspect of family law please contact Amy on 01228 516666 or click here to send her an email.