Conduct in financial remedy proceedings

Polly Morgan Associate Professor University of East Anglia

This article discusses what level and type of conduct a court may consider to be relevant in financial remedy proceedings using the categories set out by Mostyn J in OG v AG [2020] EWFC 52. It considers how courts tend to address such misconduct such as through costs orders or the add-back jurisdiction. However the majority of the article is concerned with personal misconduct and describes its origins the requirement for it to be ‘obvious and gross’ and what this means by reference to virtually all reported cases on it. It seeks to draw together some common themes to help the practitioner to identify whether their own case will fall into this category. It considers how courts have addressed non-financial misconduct within the limits of their powers including recent case law and what happens if non-financial conduct concerned cannot be measured in financial terms. Finally it discusses whether the definition of economic abuse in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 may alter the current approach.

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