Juliet Chapman considers the first reported case on interim periodical payments in the post-Agbaje era
The English courts are well-versed in divorcing foreign nationals who can establish “habitual residence” in England and Wales and then determining their claims for ancillary relief. They are less practised at granting financial provision in England and Wales under Pt III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 (MFPA 1984) following a divorce in a foreign jurisdiction. This article considers (i) the impact of the Supreme Court decision in Agbaje v Akinnoye-Agbaje 2010 UKSC 13, [2010] All ER (D) 92, (Mar) in the recent first instance decision of Mrs Justice Eleanor King in M v M [2011] EWHC 3574 (Fam) and [2010] EWHC 2817 (Fam) and (ii) the court’s approach in dealing with a contemnor in an interim application.
Part III was born from a concern at the hardship to wives and children caused by the effect of a combination of the liberality of the rules relating to the recognition of foreign divorces and the restrictive approach of some foreign jurisdictions to granting financial provision to wives. A wife
