Legal Options for Divorce and Financial Orders in Family Law

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Family Law
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Contents
1. What legal options are open to her to bring her marriage to an end?........................................1
Divorce...................................................................................................................... 2
Irretrievably break down.............................................................................................. 2
Unreasonable Behaviour.............................................................................................. 3
Owens vs. Owens [2017] EWCA Civil 182......................................................................3
Desertion................................................................................................................. 3
Legal Separation........................................................................................................... 4
Financial remedies or Maintenance................................................................................. 4
Mills vs. Mills [2018] UKSC 38..............................................................................4

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2. What financial and property orders the court may make on divorce and how the various factors in
s.25 MCA 1973 might be applied here................................................................................... 5
Maintenance Orders...................................................................................................... 6
Lump Sum Orders......................................................................................................... 6
Zimina v Zimin [2017] EWCA Civ 1429, [2017] All ER (D) 57 (Oct)........................................7
Transfers of Property..................................................................................................... 7
Pension Orders............................................................................................................. 7
Financial Support for the Children..................................................................................... 7
Interim Orders......................................................................................................... 8
Various factors in s.25 MCA 1973 might be applied..................................................................8
3. What orders she could obtain to protect her from Max and to keep him away from the house and the
criteria which would be considered by the court in the making of those orders..................................9
Injunction Order......................................................................................................... 10
Non Molestation Orders............................................................................................ 11
Occupation Orders...................................................................................................... 11
Restraining Orders...................................................................................................... 11
Regina v Tara Major [2010] EWCA Crim 3016..................................................................11
Bibliography:-............................................................................................................... 12
Primary Source.......................................................................................................... 12
Case Laws............................................................................................................. 12
Legislations........................................................................................................... 13
Secondary Source....................................................................................................... 13
Books................................................................................................................... 13
1. What legal options are open to her to bring her marriage to an end?
Claudette came into wedlock with Max in 2006 and they separated in 2017. Claudette and Max
have two daughters, after the separation, Claudette remained with her daughters at the family
home and Max stays on rent about 10 km away from the family home. After the separation,
Claudette came to know that his husband is living with his girlfriend and now Claudette does not
want the survival of her marriage with Max. For the reason that the Family Law Act 1996

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certainly not came into force, the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 signifies the existing law on
divorce in England and Wales1
Divorce
Claudette has several legal options as she wants to bring her marriage to an end. If the marriage
of any person has broken down irretrievably in that case first legal option is divorce, she can
apply for divorce under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 in the Court. According to the
provision of the family act when parties to the marriage feel that there are no scopes of the
retrieval of marriage or continuation of the marriage.
Irretrievably break down
A dispute in the marriage is considered as irretrievably break down if any party to the marriage
make any wrong statement and the other spouse believes that she cannot save the marriage. And
the statement of Max regarding the selling of the family home in front of his daughter clearly
stated that he does not care for Claudette and her daughters. On these grounds she can seek relief
in the court.
She has two most common grounds for divorce in Irretrievable breakdown of the marriage is
Unreasonable behaviour and Desertion as she has been completed the 12 months period of the
marriage and now she is living in the separation. Her husband is living in a different house and
he has an extramarital affair with some other girl these things made Claudette to believe that she
cannot save the marriage and as he came to family home in a drunk condition and asked to sell
the house even after knowing that he has two daughters and Claudette’s earning is not enough to
purchase a new home for her and his daughters2
1 Jonathan Herring, the Present Law on Divorce: Matrimonial Causes Act, Pearson Education (Harlow 2013)
115-123.
2 Elizabeth van Acker, Marriage and Values in Public Policy: Conflicts in the UK, the US and Australia (Taylor &
Francis, 2017).

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Unreasonable Behaviour
The Behaviour of Max is unreasonable and intolerable as he is living with the other girl and he
came home in the drunken condition in front of his daughters which is very affecting behaviour
for the daughters and Claudette. And she has a threat that he will sell the family house as he
shouted and shattered a vase at her in front of his daughters and said that she must immediately
agree to sell the house. The behaviour of Max is in such a way that she cannot really be
anticipated to live with him.3
Owens vs. Owens [2017] EWCA Civil 182
In this case, the Supreme Court ruled out the definition of “Unreasonable Behaviour” as
behaviour of a spouse in such a way that the other spouse ‘cannot reasonably be expected to live
with the respondent’.4
Desertion
In this ground of divorce, spouse deserted the other spouse without the consent for a continuous
period of at least two years. She can also claim for divorce on this ground. The desertion ground
of divorce is practically never used as it involves the psychological intention to separation during
the 2 year of a period which is very challenging to demonstrate.5
Legal Separation
She has another legal option of a Legal separation. Difference between the legal separation and
the separation in which Claudette and her husband are living are the settlement in the legal
3 Liz Barclay, UK Law and Your Rights for Dummies (John Wiley & Sons, 2011).
4 Owens vs. Owens [2017] EWCA Civil 182
5 Rachael Stretch, Q&A Family Law (Routledge, 2015).