FAMILY LAW My wife wants a UK divorce

My wife is seeking a UK divorce


Family Law
Brid Manifold

I have been separated for many years and live here with my two teenage children. Not long after our separaton my wife moved to the UK to live. I have now been served with a divorce petition in the UK. I am worried about what will happen to my children’s home. My wife and I are joint owners.

The first thing to say is that an application for a divorce in the UK is quite a different matter to an application for an Irish divorce. In Ireland, the law imposes a very high duty of care to the family on a judge granting a divorce. Before granting a divorce in Ireland, the judge must ensure that adequate financial provision has been made for all members of the family, and in particular that the housing needs of all members have been provided for.
In the UK, there is no such obligation on the courts, and judges may grant a divorce simply because the one-year time requirement has elapsed and one of the parties wants to divorce. Resolution of the property and financial issues can be addressed separately afterwards.
By way of reassurance, the UK courts cannot make any orders in relation to assets that are owned by a couple in this country. In cases of immoveable assets, the court of the country where the property is situated has exclusive jurisdiction (except in rare cases where the property adjustment order is recognised as a substitute for maintenance payments). So, the divorce will not in any way affect your home. Only an Irish court can make orders in relation to that.
Similarly, if you or your wife have pensions in Ireland, these can only be divided by an Irish court. So, if your wife proceeds with the divorce in the UK, you can simply carry on as normal until such time one or both of want to resolve the financial issues. At that time, you would bring an application in the Irish courts, exhibit your UK divorce order and ask the Irish courts to make the necessary orders in respect of your Irish assets.
However, it may be that now that your wife is looking for a divorce, she may be looking to resolve all of the issues and look for her share of the family home now. It is important to bear in mind that unless you and your wife reach an agreement on a division of your Irish assets, and sign what are called ‘Terms of Consent’, the UK courts cannot impose any orders.
International divorces are a very complicated and technical area. If you want to negotiate these issues in advance of the UK divorce, you will likely end up paying a solicitor in both England and Ireland. Very few family lawyers are qualified in both countries, and therefore generally will not be willing to advise you on the division of assets outside of their own country of expertise. All told, it would be better and certainly cheaper for you to have your issues dealt with by the Irish courts.

Brid Manifold is a family-law solicitor and mediator based in Galway City. Her monthly columns will cover a range of family-law and mediation issues. Email your questions in confidence to Brid at familylaw@mayonews.ie.