It is quite common for people going through divorce to believe that they should receive a larger financial settlement because of their former spouse’s conduct, but how likely is it that conduct will make a difference to the outcome?
As we have already seen, conduct is one of the factors that the court should take into account when deciding the financial settlement, but only if the conduct is so serious that in the opinion of the court it would be inequitable to disregard it.
In practice this means is that it is actually quite rare that conduct has a bearing upon the settlement. The mere fact that the other party has committed adultery or behaved unreasonably, for example, will normally have no bearing. The most common types of conduct that do have a bearing are where the conduct has had a detrimental effect upon the value of the assets available for distribution between the parties, such as spending excessive sums on gambling. Other types of conduct that do not have a direct bearing on finances would have to be of a particularly serious nature to be taken into account, such as a case in which the husband was convicted of attempting to murder the wife.
In short, it is unusual for a claim that conduct should be taken into account in a divorce settlement to succeed. Accordingly, anyone considering making such a claim should seek expert legal advice before doing so. Family Law Cafe can help you find such advice. To contact us click the Contact link above and fill in the form, or call us on 020 3904 0506.