Divorce and Financial Disputes: New Courts to Hear Battles Over Finances

The head of the family court, Sir James Munby, has announced that new financial remedy courts are to be established to deal with divorce cases involving financial disputes.

Specialist judges will oversee the cases in a move designed to shorten the duration of proceedings, as well as remedy delays and inefficiencies.

The new system will be piloted in London, the West Midlands and south east Wales, and there are plans to roll it out further if successful.

It’s taking longer to get a divorce

Ministry of Justice figures indicate that the average number of weeks a divorce case takes to get to a decree absolute, the final stage of divorce proceedings, has risen from 42 weeks in 2006 to almost 49 in 2016.

It has been argued that the increase in the delays in proceedings have been caused by administrative problems. The courts have previously attempted to tackle such inefficiencies by centralising the system in divorce centres, which were created in 2014.

Judges have been advocating for specialist courts

Sir James Munby said the case for new specialist financial courts had been “persuasively argued” by several other judges.

Sir James previously voiced his support for a reform of the system in May 2017. He said:

“Has the time not come to bring about a complete de‐linking – separation – of divorce and ‘money’, so that they are started and pursued by completely separate processes, albeit, of course, that the timeline for ancillary [financial] relief is determined by the progress of the divorce?”

The idea that divorce courts should be overseen by expert judges was first proposed by His Honour Judge Hess and the Cambridge academic Joanna Miles. In a number of articles published in the legal journal Family Law, they wrote that at present “many of the judges at district judge level hearing these cases will have no prior professional experience in this area of work and so will first be exposed to this specialist, technical jurisdiction as judges. Many will be civil practitioners and/or spend most of their judicial time doing civil work.”

IBB’s divorce law expert, Amanda Melton, commented:

“This is a long overdue change and I am sure will be welcomed by most family law practitioners. It is difficult to explain to a client who is relying on a judge to decide on what will prove to be a decision affecting the remainder of their life, why that person is not a specialist in the field of family law. It is fair to say that in any other walk of life this would be unacceptable. Family law should be no different. It is also becoming increasingly important as we see more litigants in person who require more assistance and do not have the solicitor or barrister to lead the judge to the right decision. At times this must surely result in unfairness”.

Mounting pressures for reform of divorce law

The latest changes are indicative of broader criticisms of current divorce laws.

The Times newspaper, along with the Marriage Foundation charity, called for an end in fault-based divorce with a joint campaign in 2017.

A number of MPs have also pointed out the flaws in the legal framework for dealing with divorce proceedings. Suella Fernandes, the Conservative MP for Fareham, has called for an overhaul of modern divorce law. She said: “We have a law that promotes the farce of allocating blame, setting parties on a needlessly confrontational path that only fuels animosity and costs.”

Richard Burgon, shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor, has also criticised the Conservative government for not introducing legal allowances for no-fault divorces. He said: “Labour’s manifesto promised to introduce no-fault divorce. There is nothing to stop the Conservative government getting on with introducing this and if they do Labour will support them.”

Cost of divorce rises to £14,500 per couple in UK

The average cost of getting a divorce is now more than £14,500 per couple, a report from Aviva has found, up from £12,432 in 2014. The sum takes into account factors such as legal fees, setting up a new home or redecorating a previously shared one and childcare costs – as well as costs associated with starting afresh, such as getting back into the dating scene, splashing out on a new wardrobe or jewellery and taking up a new hobby or skill.

Amanda Melton commented:

“It is difficult to reconcile these figures without understanding the background to the research. If this relates to obtaining a decree of divorce it is far too high bearing in mind there are very few contested divorce cases On the other hand if a couple divorce, need the court to decide their finances, to decide issues in relation to their children and maybe also require the court’s protection by way of a non-molestation order along the way, the amount is unrealistic. The difficulty is that we use the term divorce to cover a whole range of proceedings which may be required in order to deal with various aspects of a couple’s separation. To suggest that this sum might cover all of those potential applications is inaccurate. The difficulty is that at the outset it is easy to estimate for the costs of the divorce, later it becomes apparent the couple cannot reach agreement on issues pertaining to the children or to the finances which requires separate estimates to be given. It is then sometimes the case that an urgent application has to be made for example to protect one party from an incident of domestic violence. Whilst to the client this is all art of the divorce, the extent of the work required is significantly different”.

Talk to IBB Solicitors about divorce today

The divorce process can be long-winded, confusing and stressful. For expert insight and friendly advice, talk to experts at IBB Solicitors today. Whether you’re looking for a quick, stress-free end to your marriage, want to contest parts of your separation or simply want more information on the divorce process and financial settlements, we can help. Call our high net-worth divorce experts with no obligation today on 03456 381381 or email us at familylaw@ibblaw.co.uk