Newcastle and Hexham’s leading female divorce and children’s specialist, Anna Hunter, Director of Major Family Law, top family lawyers in Ponteland comments Following Mr Justice Mostyn’s comments in the recent case of C v C [2014] regarding failures to comply with the Family Procedure Rules 2010, the case of Thiry v Thiry [2014] is another clear warning that the rules are not made to be broken.
In this case the parties had entered into a pre-nuptial agreement prior to marriage. Neither party sought to depart from the terms of the pre-nuptial agreement, which would suggest the case should have been fairly clear cut.
However, the husband and wife entered into complex financial arrangements during their marriage which required some analysis of what was and was not their ‘separate property’. The husband consistently failed to provide details and disclosure of those financial arrangements despite various orders for the production of information, supported by penal notices. The court found that the husband’s conduct throughout the proceedings had been so poor he must pay all his ex-wife’s legal costs totalling £456,000 and a further £500,000 to her as a ‘fighting fund’ in case the husband embarked on further litigation.
This is clear a reminder of the requirement for full and frank disclosure and the penalties which can be impose on clients for attempting to conceal assets.