A case in point - 

Your marriage to your ex- spouse ended amicably as you had grown apart and you have been separated now for a few years.

Divorce proceedings were jointly progressed six months ago, and you have the final divorce Order.

You talked about the matrimonial finances together and casually agreed over a coffee that each of you kept what you had personally built up financially after a marriage of eight years. You divided the household contents and remained friends.  Both of you were happy with this arrangement and got on with your own lives, moving on with new partners.

You then win £1,000,000

Your ex- spouse would now like 50% of your winnings and you refuse. You are no longer friends. Your ex-spouse instructs a solicitor to pursue a claim on their behalf and that solicitor is threatening a Court injunction to effectively freeze your bank account to stop you from spending these monies pending settlement of her claims.    

You would think that this is a unique occurrence but while the amount may vary, it is not an unusual occurrence for us. We advise on the ramifications of this scenario fairly regularly, be it a significant lottery win of many millions, an inheritance or other.

Clean break         

While you are divorced and, as such, no longer legally married, the finances from the marriage and the division thereof need to be agreed and ratified in a Court Order. Until they are, in basic terms, both of you have live claims against the other for financial provision arising from your former marriage to include, but not limited to, property, capital, pensions and spousal maintenance.

In this case, there was no final financial Order, so the above claims remain live and your ex-spouse has potential claims against you.

You will say, “It’s not fair, we verbally agreed to keep what we each had”.  Whilst evidentially of some limited use, this is not enough to prohibit potential claims.   

The Law

As won post separation and subsequent divorce, in this case the monies would not be classed as a matrimonial asset for division as such but if your ex-spouse has financial needs which are not being met, a Court may look to meet those needs by awarding a proportion of the monies regardless.   A Court would look at achieving fairness depending on a number of factors such as, but not limited to, whether or not there are any children of the relationship, the length of the marriage and separation period, each parties’ ages, health and capital and income needs.

The moral of the case in hand here is to seek legal advice at the time of separation and if so advised, obtain a clean break Order to protect your position and preserve any future winnings.

Next Steps: Get in touch

If you would like to discuss your Family matter then please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team of legal experts at John Hodge Solicitors, conveniently located throughout the South West, with offices in Bridgwater, Bristol, Clevedon, Wedmore, Weston-super-Mare and Yatton.

You can contact us either:

• by email
• via our website
• by calling us on 0800 097 8611