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Wyatt v Vince [2015] UKSC 14: a case of limited legal significance?
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Despite the headlines I think that the case is of very limited legal significance. At the heart of the judgment was the decision that a claim for financial remedies brought 22 years after divorce could not be struck out. A claim would only be struck out if an application were not legally recognisable for example a claim brought after re-marriage - because statute expressly prevents such claims being brought. The fact that a claim was weak was insufficient to allow the court to strike out a claim. No decision was made as to what the wife would be entitled to; which was left to be determined on another day by a more junior court. The Supreme Court did however provide a hint as to a potential future outcome; namely that the wife should receive a somewhat more comfortable mortgage free home. Bearing in mind the wife lives in an ex local authority property purchased for £60 000 in 2010 and the husband worth probably in excess of £57 million; the provision of ‘a somewhat more comfortable mortgage free home’ suggests the wife’s likely award will...
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