Geraldine Morris reports on funding former spouses & hypothetical claims
Practitioner’s will be familiar with the scenario where a second spouse or partner is a bone of contention for a first spouse within financial proceedings. This issue has been considered previously by the courts, most notably in the following cases:
- Roberts v Roberts [1968] 3 All ER 479 in which it was held, inter alia, that “a spouse must on marriage be presumed…to take the other subject to all existing encumbrances, whether known or not, eg…an obligation to support the wife or child of a dissolved marriage”.
- Blower v Blower [1986] 1 FLR 292 where it was held that obligations to second spouses are a matter for the court’s discretion.
- Delaney v Delaney [1990] 2 FLR 457 where it was emphasised that the moral obligations to a later spouse or partner or child cannot be disregarded by the court in determining financial obligations.
The facts in Vaughan v Vaughan [2010] EWCA Civ 349, [2010] All ER (D) 04 (Apr) are relatively unusual in the context of second marriage considerations. In Vaughan
