Part one: Shantanu Majumdar examines debt cases & a judge’s prerogative to change his mind
“A tactic now occasionally adopted by a devious husband confronted with an application by his wife for financial relief ancillary to divorce proceedings is to issue proceedings for a bankruptcy order to be made against himself.”
These opening words of Lord Justice Wilson’s judgment in Paulin v Paulin ([2009] All ER (D) 187 (Mar); Note [2009] 3 All ER 88; [2009] NLJR 475) found their way into the news sections of a number of newspapers including the redoubtable Yorkshire Post. The Daily Telegraph’s headline “Millionaire businessman declared himself bankrupt to avoid paying ex-wife alimony” was not obviously more sober than the Daily Mail but behind the language of sensation two important points of principle fell to be decided by the Court of Appeal relating to: (1) a judge’s jurisdiction to change his mind after judgment but before the order is sealed and (2) the annulment of a bankruptcy order made on the petition of the debtor. (The Court of Appeal’s decision on the latter will form the subject of
