In English law, an application for financial relief following the presentation of a petition for
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
,
nullity or
judicial separation
Legal separation (sometimes judicial separation, separate maintenance, divorce ', or divorce from bed-and-board) is a legal process by which a married couple may formalize a separation while remaining legally married. A legal separation is gra ...
used to be described as ancillary relief. The term arose because the financial application was 'ancillary' to the petition. However, the term was discarded by the Family Procedure Rules 2010 which substituted it with the term "application for a financial order".
Explanation
The courts powers derive in large part from the
Matrimonial Causes Act 1973
The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (c 18) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom governing divorce law and marriage in England and Wales.
Contents
The act contains four parts:
# Divorce, Nullity and Other Matrimonial Suits
# Financial Reli ...
, and in particular section 25(2) which sets out the statutory checklist of factors that should be taken into account. The court can order lump sum payments, property adjustment orders (e.g. requiring a property is transferred into the ownership of a husband or wife), periodical payments (known as 'maintenance') and (from 2000) pension sharing orders.
Maintenance orders can be given on nominal or specific terms. Nominal orders operate on the basis that if the court makes no order for maintenance (known as "periodical payments") at the time of the final order, it cannot later come back and make an order. If, on the other hand, it makes an order, it can later vary it. This is why an order for periodical payments at the rate of 5 pence per year (the usual nominal order) is known as a nominal order - it gives the recipient the right to come back and make an application for a substantive monthly sum at a later date.
Following a 1984 amendment, the court is obliged to consider whether the parties' financial relationship should be terminated ('clean break').
[la.c.c.part.102]
Legal rulings
The leading cases are now the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
decisions of ''
White v White 2001'' 1 A.C. 596 and
Miller/ McFarlane.
References
Law of the United Kingdom
Family law
Divorce law
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