Importance Of Declaring All Assets To Secure A Binding Settlement
Divorce and Finances
In the case of Chapman v Kawash the parties were married to each other for a relative number of years.
There were no children of the marriage.
After the marriage broke down, the Wife began proceedings for divorce and a financial remedy order.
The Husband, who is a Jordanian, made some disclosure in respect of his capital and means.
The Wife, who was not satisfied with the disclosure and held a strong belief that the Husband owned a valuable piece of land in Jordan, requested in a questionnaire that the Husband produce copies of the Jordanian Land Registry entries for his property in Jordan.
The Husband responded by saying he did not currently own any land in Jordan nor had he owned any land in that country at any time during the marriage.
In view of this confirmation, a Consent Order was subsequently agreed providing for the Husband to pay the wife a lump sum of US $100,000.00 in full and final settlement of all claims.
Thereafter, the Wife was informed by her lawyer in Jordan that she had established the Husband owned a valuable piece of land in Jordan. The lawyer later produced a valuation of that land, confirming the value to be £1,600,000.00.
The Wife applied for permission to appeal the Consent Order out of time.
The issue was whether the Wife’s appeal had a realistic prospect of success.
The application was allowed, given there had been non-disclosure of an asset, the value of which was very significant. However, this did not automatically mean the Consent Order should be set aside.
It was confirmed that non-disclosure, if it was significant and material, might lead to the setting aside of the Consent Order. However, in situations where a party had deliberately compromised an issue as to disclosure, it might not automatically mean the Consent Order should be set aside.
In this case, the Court was satisfied that there was evidence of potentially significant non-disclosure.
The proposed appeal clearly had a realistic prospect of success.
In the circumstances, permission to appeal would be granted.
Divorce Lawyers Eastbourne, Hailsham, Polegate and Meads
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