Personal: Preserving Assets and Income

You may need to take urgent action to ensure that your interests are safeguarded.

Assets

One of the main assets is usually the matrimonial home. If the property is registered in the joint names of the parties you need not worry about your partner selling or taking out a new mortgage behind your back.

However some mortgages permit the owner to drawdown further funds on the security of the property and you may wish to ensure that your spouse does not do so without your knowledge and authority.

If the property is registered in the sole name of your spouse you should consider registering a notice with the Land Registry which will protect your interests. This will ensure that, whilst the divorce is pending, your spouse cannot sell or re-mortgage the property.

If there is a danger that your spouse will dispose of some other assets you should take legal advice as to whether you should apply to the Court for an order which effectively freezes the assets or at least orders your spouse not to dispose of them. The assets could take the form of money, land, goods, in fact almost anything that has a value.

If you have sufficient security for your claim, it may not be appropriate to freeze assets. Each case should be looked at individually.

If your spouse has already disposed of an asset you may have grounds to apply to the Court to set aside the disposition. If the Court makes such an order, the asset would be returned to your spouse and the person who received the asset would become involved in the legal process because it would affect their rights.

Example: -

A couple reaches retirement, sell their house and use their life savings to buy a sailing boat to travel round the world. The boat cost £300,000. Before they set sail the marriage breaks down and without the wife's knowledge the husband sells the boat to his brother for £10,000. They have no other savings. Clearly this is an undervalue disposition and the wife would have good grounds to apply to the Court for the return of the boat.

Income

If someone does not have sufficient income to manage and their spouse has a surplus of income a Court can require the payment of maintenance. Sometimes maintenance is needed urgently in which case an application to the Court for maintenance pending suit is advisable. There may be other courses of action to be followed at the same time such as applying to the Child Support Agency and for state benefits.

Davies and Partners have the resources and experience to give advice in urgent cases and where appropriate take immediate Court action to safeguard your interests.

If you wish to discuss matters with one of our team concerning your situation please do not hesitate to contact us on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or telephone us. Click here for our contact details.