If you are tempted to try to avoid claims by your spouse in divorce proceedings, think again.
Occasionally, within divorce proceedings, one party tries to avoid these claims by transferring assets to another party or family member, such as monies in bank accounts, shares and even property.
The court has always had the power to set aside such a disposition, but this has now been confirmed recently in the case of Everclear Ltd v Agrest and Kremen. In this case, the husband sold his home – (the primary asset) to a third party and it was then sold on again.
The court declared that the disposition had been made by the husband deliberately to defeat his wife’s claims and set it aside.
Such orders are almost always made with an order for costs against the transferring party and the costs are likely to be very substantial.
It is always better to be honest – so don’t risk it. The transfer of the Building Society account to a parent – to repay ‘a loan’ can be a very costly mistake to make.
For further information please contact a member of our Private Client team on 01625 442100.
