The Re-Marriage Trap
The Re-Marriage Trap
It is crucial, when divorcing, to ensure that prior to any re-marriage, the financial aspects flowing from your first marriage have been resolved and a Court Order is in place. Failure to do this could be costly.
When we are advising clients in respect of divorce proceedings, we also always advise them to include any agreement in respect of financial matters into a Court Order.
When a Divorce Petition is issued, the petitioner ticks a box stating that in due course they would intend to apply for a Financial Remedy Court Order. However, that application is not “triggered” until a Form A is issued at Court. However, if you are the Respondent to the divorce proceedings then the Court will not be aware, that at a later date, you intend to apply to the Court for financial matters to be resolved. There is no application for the Court.
If the Respondent has not made any formal application to the Court, in respect of financial matters, then they are barred from making an application against the Petitioner for any form of financial assistance should they re-marry. In other words, they may not make an application to the Court for the Court to consider what should happen to the matrimonial home, investments, maintenance. Indeed, the only application they may still make is against the other party’s pension.
Conversely, the Petitioner, as long as they have ticked the relevant box on the Divorce Petition and even if they haven’t issued their Form A, would be able then to make an application to the Court for the financial matters to be considered at any point in the future.
This is known as the “Re-marriage trap” and we urge all clients who are going through divorce proceedings to ensure that their financial matters are resolved in a binding Court Order prior to remarriage.
We'd be pleased to discuss your re-marriage situation and options with you.
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