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Sex and drugs and ancillary relief
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Add-backs after MAP v MFP [2016] 1 FLR 70 and Rapp v Sarre [2016] EWCA Civ 93: seminar to Payne Hicks Beach on 29 February 2016A. Introduction
Divorce is often likened to a car crash. In fact anyone who has been in a car crash will know that the experiences are quite different at least from a legal point of view. Causation is almost always a major issue after a road traffic accident whereas in ancillary relief causation (eg whose conduct caused the marriage to break down) is normally irrelevant.
This for many clients is frustrating and would have been frustrating to me if after a drunken lunatic had driven into and written off my stationary car my lawyer had advised:
'... the court isn't interested in who's to blame; it's more a question of quantifying the value of the cars and reaching a fair redistribution of their value.'
As we all know conduct is taken into account in ancillary relief
1 only where it would be inequitable to disregard it (ie it is 'gross and obvious'
2). It's difficult to conceive of the circumstances...
Read the full article here.
