Securing a financial settlement for an international divorcee

Would you be happy to divorce without receiving a financial settlement?

This was exactly the situation faced by one of our clients. In fact, receiving a financial settlement wasn’t even an option that was available to her at the time. This was because the Asian country she divorced in wouldn’t deal with the only asset to the marriage — a property in England.

Situations like this can occur in various countries and territories around the world. There are also some places where the court may not be prepared to intervene to make any financial settlement at all. 

Thankfully, if you find yourself in a similar predicament, you may have some options. Here, Amy Harris — a Legal Director in our award-winning family law team — explains how she secured a property transfer for a client who divorced abroad and wasn’t granted a financial settlement as part of her divorce.

We use the terms ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ throughout for ease, though the couple were divorced at the time we were instructed.

Transfer of property

The divorce took place in a Southern Asian country — the country where our client’s husband was living following the couple’s separation. Our client and her adult children lived in London in their former family home (where the couple had resided during their marriage).

The family home was jointly owned by the husband and wife. The husband appeared to have a new life abroad and demonstrated no desire to return to the UK. He had previously said that he was happy for the wife to retain the former family home — however, he hadn’t cooperated with the transfer itself. 

As the wife had received no financial settlement as part of her overseas divorce, she wanted the court in England to make an order for the property to be transferred to her (and for her to retain the net equity).

Application for financial settlement

We made an application under Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 for permission to proceed with an application for a financial settlement following the overseas divorce. 

The first step was to prepare an application and supporting statement that set out the background to the case, including why a financial settlement wasn’t obtained as part of the overseas divorce. This was then filed at court and a hearing was held without notice to the husband. This means that only the wife and her legal representatives attended.

We were successful in persuading the court that the wife had met the legal test for being able to make an application in England. We were able to show that the wife was living in England, the family home was in England and that she had sufficient connection to this country. This meant that she obtained permission for the second half of this case — to make an application for the family home to be transferred to her.

Non-cooperation

Once permission was granted, the documents were served on the husband abroad. He was also notified that the wife was seeking a transfer of the former family home to him. Unfortunately, the husband failed to cooperate at any stage of the process. This meant that the wife had no alternative but to seek a court order which specifically ordered the transfer of the property from their joint names into her sole name. The resulting delay was unfortunate and stressful for our client — but she had the benefit of living in the property and support from her team of lawyers, who kept her updated throughout the process as the case progressed.

We were also able to liaise with lawyers in Southern Asia to arrange for international service of all relevant documents on the husband. This meant that we could prove to the court in England and Wales that he had received the application but was actively choosing not to cooperate. 

Emotionally challenging

The client found the process to be emotionally challenging due to her former husband’s lack of engagement — as well as her strong desire to retain the family home so that it would ultimately benefit her adult children. 

Thankfully, we were successful in achieving the transfer of the former family home. This meant that her future and retirement plans could be secured and she was free of any concern that her former husband could try to claim an interest in the property in the future.

Talk to us

If you’ve divorced overseas and either received no financial settlement or an inadequate financial settlement that may not meet your needs, we may be able to assist. 

Talk to our award-winning family law team by completing our contact form below.

Please note that we've altered some details within this case study to respect our client’s confidentiality.