By Kristian Jones, Solicitor

When a couple divorce and financial arrangements have to be sorted out, there are occasions when the court may decide that assets not owned by the divorcing couple should be taken into account.

In a recent case, a couple with three children divorced after 20 years of marriage. They had enjoyed a high standard of living, which was largely funded by a trust of which the husband was a beneficiary. The trust had been set up by the husband’s father, who is extremely wealthy.

Following the break-up of the marriage, the man’s father claimed that no future gifts would be given to his son and that the prior gifts had been for business purposes.

However, the High Court considered that the gifts and loans to the man were not made for business purposes and the evidence given in that regard had not been full and frank. The wife was awarded a capital sum of £3 million, to purchase a house for herself, and periodical payments totalling £3.25 million, leaving the husband with his trust interests intact and personal assets of £1.6 million.

Kristian can be contacted for advice on 01603 693560 or email kj@clapham-collinge.co.uk

By Laura Gray, Solicitor

The argument put forward by a farmer that he should retain the family farm after his divorce, because it had been in his family for generations and his wife was aware that it was the family tradition for it to be handed down from generation to generation, was given short shrift in the family court recently.

The farmer had wanted the value of the farm to be ‘ring-fenced’ and left out of the calculations for dividing the couple’s assets on divorce. However, the judge ruled that there was no legal authority for a division of assets on that basis.

The farmer’s ex-wife was awarded the family home, a lump sum of £1.5 million and annual maintenance payments of £44,000.

The financial arrangements on divorce can lead to long and bitter negotiations in some cases. We can help you ensure that you achieve an equitable settlement if your marriage or civil partnership breaks down.

Laura can be contacted for further advice on 01603 593590 or email lag@clapham-collinge.co.uk

By Becky Fowler, Legal Executive

In today’s modern society more and more couples (straight and gay) are choosing to live together. 

If a property is in the sole name of one party then basically it remains that person’s property unless the other party can establish that there was a common intention that they would be entitled to a share (possible examples contributing to the mortgage repayments or paying household bills).  Parties can come to an agreement in this situation but disputes do arise and are often unpleasant and expensive.

If you own property jointly it is important to decide whether you will own the property as joint tenants or tenants in common.

As joint tenants you each own the entire property and in the event of one of you dying their interest in the property will pass automatically to the survivor.  It is usual for married couples to buy a property as joint tenants.

The alternative is to purchase a property as tenants in common – each owner has a distinct share in the property.  In this situation each party will automatically own half the property.  However, you can decide between yourselves what share belongs to each of you; for example, one party contributed more to the purchase price than the other and this could be reflected in the respective shares of say 75% and 25%.  The important point here is that each party owns their share and are only entitled to that percentage of the sale proceeds if sold during their lifetime.  If they die then their share of the property forms part of their estate.  It does not pass automatically to the other party.

3 things for you to consider when purchasing property together:

• Make sure the house is in joint names, in appropriate shares


• Set up a simple cohabitation agreement


• Make Wills

Many couples believe they will qualify for some protection under the law if their relationship breaks down.  However, this is not the case and no matter how long the couple have lived together the law effectively treats them as separate individuals with no rights or liabilities to each other should the relationship end.  The exception to this is same sex couples who have entered into a formal civil partnership.

The absence of any liability between the individuals has some far reaching consequences and in particular in relation to the home they may own jointly. 

Becky can be contacted for further advice on 01603 693578 or email rf@clapham-collinge.co.uk

We set up a FREE local community service for the Sheringham and North Norfolk area earlier this year and we have been holding general legal surgeries at our Sheringham office every Friday from 2:00pm until 5:00pm for 20 minutes free advice with expert solicitors on the subjects of family, separation, children, disputes and any other general legal matters.

We have found that there is a real need in the area for quality legal advice which is FREE and NO OBLIGATION and we have therefore taken the decision to continue the service running for the benefit of the local people.  We are helping people every week to resolve their legal issues and problems that have arisen.

This is a "drop in" free surgery but for convenience please call 01263 823398.