header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
27 March 2026 / David Burrows
Issue: 8155 / Categories: Features , Family , Practice areas
printer mail-detail

More than two sides?

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
245640
David Burrows explores examples where a non-party can join a case about who gets what in the divorce
  • When should a non-party be joined in family financial provision proceedings?
  • Identify preliminary issues, add any non-party relevant to that issue and order prior hearing as appropriate.
  • When is it ‘desirable’ to add; and will this result in a separate trial of a preliminary issue?

This article considers how preliminary issues in financial provision (divorce or civil partnership) proceedings can, or should, be dealt with; and, in appropriate cases, it deals with the adding of non-parties according to the extent of their interest.

The article is prompted in part by the February appeal decision of Ms Justice Henke in Archer v Archer & others [2026] EWHC 468 (Fam). Henke J has sent the case back for rehearing (for facts).

Addition of non-parties

When the then ‘new ancillary relief scheme’ was introduced in 1996 for Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) financial provision cases (a scheme adopted also for Civil Partnership

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

Senior appointments in insurance services and commercial services announced

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Aviation disputes practice strengthened by London partner hire

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Residential property lawyer promoted to partnership

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Renters’ Rights revolution begins—brace for tribunal chaos
he abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC
NLJ this week: Civil procedure gets a spring overhaul
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
NLJ this week: Why GP complaints are going nowhere
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
NLJ this week: Prenups meet a jurisdictional brick wall
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
NLJ this week: Has Rylands v Fletcher come back from the dead?
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll