Release date: May 2009

John Lewis, a solicitor specialising in Family Law at Close Thornton, looks at current trends.

The assets of high powered City types may have taken a tumble in the recent crunch and this is having a knock-on effect in the divorce courts. Some divorcees are now going back to Court to renegotiate their settlement. However, claimants are seeing little success. If the Court has already made a determination and reallocated assets to the other party, this will not be reviewed. In the absence of fraud, if the asset goes up in value, then the asset holder is lucky in his or her windfall. If it goes down, then the reverse applies and he or she is unlucky in the short-fall. This seems to be as much a public policy decision as a legal principle. Clearly this will apply to all those persons holding assets with a fluctuating value and not just to those working in the City of London.

John Lewis is the Family Law Solicitor at Close Thornton. To discuss any family matters with him in the strictest confidence, please call him on 01326 466461 or email john.lewis@close-thornton.co.uk

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