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29 April 2021 / Jenny Duggan
Issue: 7930 / Categories: Features , Family , Divorce , Covid-19
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COVID & divorce: in sickness & in health…

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Could COVID-19 set aside your divorce settlement? Jenny Duggan explores the possibilities
  • In the recent case of FRB v DCA [2020] EWHC 3696, the court held that the COVID-19 pandemic was not an unforeseeable event which entitled a husband to set aside the final financial remedy order made on his divorce.
  • This article examines the decision and considers whether the COVID-19 pandemic might be grounds for setting aside a financial remedy order if the situation is different to that in FRB v DCA.

A little over a year ago, Britain faced its first lockdown. The world pressed pause, and no one was quite sure what would happen next. This was no exception for couples who had reached a financial settlement in their divorce shortly before the pandemic took hold.

A final financial remedy order sets out the financial agreement reached between a divorcing couple. It represents the end of financial negotiations, and provides the finality most people need to move forward. For this

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Thackray Williams—Lucy Zhu

Thackray Williams—Lucy Zhu

Dual-qualified partner joins as head of commercial property department

Morgan Lewis—David A. McManus

Morgan Lewis—David A. McManus

Firm announces appointment of next chair

Burges Salmon—Rebecca Wilsker

Burges Salmon—Rebecca Wilsker

Director joins corporate team from the US

NEWS
What safeguards apply when trust corporations are appointed as deputy by the Court of Protection? 
Disputing parties are expected to take part in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), where this is suitable for their case. At what point, however, does refusing to participate cross the threshold of ‘unreasonable’ and attract adverse costs consequences?
When it comes to free legal advice, demand massively outweighs supply. 'Millions of people are excluded from access to justice as they don’t have anywhere to turn for free advice—or don’t know that they can ask for help,' Bhavini Bhatt, development director at the Access to Justice Foundation, writes in this week's NLJ
When an ex-couple is deciding who gets what in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution, when is it appropriate for a third party to intervene? David Burrows, NLJ columnist and solicitor advocate, considers this thorny issue in this week’s NLJ
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue
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