Barder v Caluori
A final financial order can be set aside where a new event, occurring soon after the order, invalidates the basis on which it was made, provided that the event was unforeseeable and the application is made promptly.
Facts
On their divorce, Mr Barder agreed to transfer his interest in the matrimonial home to his wife, so that she could provide a home for herself and their two children. A few weeks after the order, before the transfer had taken place, Mrs Barder killed the children and then herself. Under her will, her property, including the home, passed to her mother. Mr Barder applied for leave to appeal out of time against the order.
Legal principle
The House of Lords allowed the appeal and set aside the order. Lord Brandon said that leave to appeal out of time could be given where new events have occurred since the order was made which invalidate the basis, or fundamental assumption, on which the order was made, so that an appeal would be likely to succeed. The new events should have occurred within a relatively short time of the order, normally within a few months, the application should be made promptly, and it should not prejudice third parties who had acquired interests in the property in good faith. All these conditions were satisfied.
Related cases on financial remedies on divorce
- Charman v Charman (No 4) [2007] EWCA Civ 503, [2007] 1 FLR 1246
- Edgar v Edgar [1980] 1 WLR 1410
- Gohil v Gohil [2015] UKSC 61, [2016] AC 849
- Jones v Jones [2011] EWCA Civ 41, [2012] Fam 1
- Miller v Miller; McFarlane v McFarlane [2006] UKHL 24, [2006] 2 AC 618
- Mills v Mills [2018] UKSC 38, [2018] 3 WLR 1170
- Radmacher v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42, [2011] 1 AC 534
- Sharland v Sharland [2015] UKSC 60, [2016] AC 871
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