Ancillary relief claim refused because of extreme conduct

Mr Justice Moylan sitting in the Family Division of the High Court has recently refused to make an award for ancillary relief in a claim made by a husband against his former wife as he said that the circumstances are such “that it would be inequitable for the wife to make any financial provision for the husband”.

The parties married in 1983 and the husband made a claim against his former wife whose wealth was estimated at £4.5 million. The husband had previously been convicted of 17 child abuse offences and had served four and a half years of an indeterminate sentence in prison. His offences included sexual offences against children, possessing 260 photographs of child abuse and posting pictures of children on the internet.   

Mr Justice Moylan said that if the husband had not acted in the way he had he would have received a substantial financial settlement but as a result of his behaviour he should receive “no award from the wife at all”. It was ordered that the husband be paid a sum of £100,000 from the sale of a jointly-owned property and that he pay £50,000 towards his wife’s legal costs of £250,000.

Section 25(2) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 provides that the court shall have regard to the conduct of the parties; “if that conduct is such that it would be inequitable to disregard it”. It is clear from recent case law that the line has been drawn as conduct which is “gross and obvious”. In this case the Judge considered that the husband’s conduct was such an extreme example that it had to be taken into account upon financial settlement.