David Burrows unravels Wyatt v Vince
The issue at the centre of Wyatt v Vince [2015] UKSC 14 (on appeal from Vince v Wyatt [2013] EWCA Civ 495) was the power of family courts to strike out a claim for matrimonial financial provision. In Wyatt prosecution of the claim has been long-delayed. A subsidiary, and, as time may tell, perhaps a more significant issue, was how an appellate court should deal, on appeal, with a legal services order made by the judge below.
In the Court of Appeal the judges had struck out a wife’s claim for “abuse of the court’s process” (FPR 2010 r 4.4(1)(a) and (b)). The couple had lived apart for over 30 years and had lived together for only some two years. There were two children in the family (Ms Wyatt’s child by an earlier relationship was treated by Mr Vince as his) mostly brought up by Ms Wyatt. At the time of separation they were living in subsistence conditions. H prospered massively. W’s financial condition altered little.
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