Is Your Spouse Disposing Assets Before Reaching a Financial Agreement?

If you are going through court proceedings to settle for finances during/after a divorce then you and your spouse are under an obligation to provide full and frank financial disclosure. This will involve you completing a lengthy financial statement called a Form E.  It stands to reason therefore that selling assets with a view to hiding their existence as well as hiding the proceeds goes directly against this principle.  It is not uncommon though for some people in this situation to take against the sharing of assets on divorce and to try to do just that.

Of course, on some occasions there might be a perfectly good reason to sell assets, for example, if you have agreed that a property needs to be sold or a joint bank account closed.  If any assets are going to be sold before a final agreement has been reached you need to be sure that they are being sold at the correct value. 

How to stop your spouse selling assets:

If however you believe that your spouse is selling assets to defeat or reduce your financial claim on them then you need to take action as quickly as possible.  We can apply to the family court for a freezing injunction. This is an order made under section 37 of the Matrimonial Causes Act and can prevent the sale of assets and/or freezes money held in bank accounts. We can also try to prevent the sale of property by proactively registering your rights in property with the land registry.

 Here at Chadwick Lawrence, we can also ask the Court to:

1. Join the person who received the asset as a party to the financial settlement proceedings; and
2. To make inferences about the reasons for the sale of the assets and to financially penalise your spouse by giving you a larger financial settlement and making cost orders; and
3. To award you a greater share of the remaining assets. 

The following scenarios are where you need to take extra care and seek immediate legal advice:

1. If you do not know the extent of your spouse’s wealth, or
2. You know that their assets are complicated, or
3. You have evidence that your spouse is planning to separate from you and is managing their finances and assets in a way so as to prevent you from making a financial claim.

If you need advice on divorce and a financial settlement, whether it involves the issues highlighted in this article or not, please contact our expert team for advice at a free initial half hour appointment by email at family@chadlaw.co.uk or call us on 0800 015 0340.