You may be forgiven for mistakenly believing that your final divorce decree (previously known as a decree absolute) severs all your ties with your ex-spouse. This is a common and often costly mistake.

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A final divorce order only brings the marriage to an end. In order to sever financial ties with your ex-spouse it is necessary to obtain a financial order, and in particular, a clean break order from the court.  

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Without a clean break financial order, either ex-spouse, provided that they have not remarried, or formed a civil partnership, may at any time bring an application for financial provision.

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Remarriage or the forming of a new civil partnership, would prevent a party from applying for a financial order, in particular, property adjustment, periodical payments, lump sum and pension attachment orders. Remarriage or a new civil partnership, would not, however prevent the party from applying for a pension sharing order. This is colloquially known as the “Remarriage Trap”.

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If the party against whom the application for a financial order has been brought, has remarried or formed a new civil partnership, their new spouse or civil partner, may also be compelled to make disclosure of their finances.

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In addition, where a clean break financial order has not been obtained, an ex-spouse who has not remarried or formed a new civil partnership may bring a claim against the estate of the deceased ex-spouse. It is important to note that this is different to inheriting from an ex-spouse under a will.

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It is therefore crucial that expert advice is taken on divorce and financial remedy orders to avoid unpleasant and expensive surprises years later!

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If you would like to speak to our experts, contact our Head of Family, Heather Sterling at Heather.Sterling@lawcomm.co.uk