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Concealment in family financial proceedings: a crime by any other name
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ASHLEY MURRAY, Ashley Murray Chambers, Liverpool Since Tavoulareas [1998] 2 FLR 418, CA,
deliberate concealment within divorce financial remedy proceedings has been
treated as ‘litigation misconduct’ and dealt with as a costs matter and not as
conduct within the balancing exercise under s 25 of the MCA 1973.
Ashley Murray
suggests that this approach is simply wrong and continues to undermine the
authority of and respect for the Family Court and its ability to do justice
between spouses within the statutory exercise in financial remedy proceedings.
In the light of recent high profile examples of where spouses have acted
fraudulently before the court without any substantial penalty, he suggests that
the present approach of the Family Court to such behaviour is totally
inadequate, out of line with the approach of other divisions of our legal
system and in need of urgent revision.
The full version of this article appears in the August 2014 issue of Family Law.
Read the full article here.
