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COVID & divorce: in sickness & in health…

29 April 2021 / Jenny Duggan
Issue: 7930 / Categories: Features , Family , Divorce , Covid-19
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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

Carey Olsen—Jeremy Lightfoot

Carey Olsen—Jeremy Lightfoot

Dispute resolution partner joins Jersey office from Hong Kong

Constantine Law—Vivien Cochrane

Constantine Law—Vivien Cochrane

Agile employment and regulatory firm welcomes partner

Twenty Essex—four members

Twenty Essex—four members

Chambers welcomes four new tenants following successful pupillage

NEWS
The long-awaited Hillsborough Law—creating a legal duty of candour on public authorities and officials—has been introduced in Parliament
The current ‘postcode lottery’ of support for more than half a million disabled children in England could be replaced with clearer rights and national eligibility criteria, under Law Commission proposals
Face-scanning artificial intelligence (AI) surveillance tech is to be used to remotely monitor offenders, under a Home Office pilot
Proposed tax adviser legislation is so broad it would cover ‘conveyancers filling out stamp duty land tax returns’, Law Society president Richard Atkinson has warned
UK legal sector revenue grew 7.86% in July to £4.87bn, outperforming the services sector as a whole, which was only 0.3% higher at £249bn
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