International UK Divorce Financial Settlements located in Manchester, London and Birmingham
Dealing with a divorce or separation is a challenging and emotional time, particularly when there are complex financial matters to consider. This is further complicated when the divorce or separation involves parties from different countries, and assets are located across borders. In such cases, it is essential to have the support of experienced International Financial Settlement Lawyers who can help navigate the legal complexities of international family law.
Our top rated solicitors are experienced in international divorce financial settlement cases with complex divorce proceedings and international elements. Call our UK specialist solicitors to discuss your case today: .
Agreeing your finances can be the most challenging part of a separation or divorce but it’s highly important and must not be overlooked.
The first step is to find a Solicitor that will help to identify the right process for you and your ex-partner so that you can come to an agreement for your matrimonial assets (money, property, income and pensions) to be divided up.
IMD Solicitors multi-cultural family law UK specialists are experts in this area and will advise on what approach the Courts will take and what will be a fair settlement for you.
This can be done amicably via a legally binding Consent Order or where it is not possible to reach an agreement with your ex-partner, we can represent you by pursuing Court proceedings on your behalf.
Pursuing a Financial Settlement After an Overseas Divorce
When a couple has divorced overseas, it is possible to pursue a financial settlement in England or Wales under Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984. However, to make an application, you must have been divorced overseas, and that divorce must be recognized in England and Wales. You must also have a specific connection to this country. Specialist advice from an international family lawyer is required to determine whether it is appropriate to make an application.
If permission is granted to make an application, the court will consider various factors, including the couple’s connections to England and Wales, the country where the marriage was dissolved or annulled, any other countries, and the extent to which an order made abroad has been complied with. The court has a wide jurisdiction to make different types of financial relief orders, including transfer or sale of property, pension sharing, lump sum payment, interim orders, and long-term maintenance.
Financial Settlement Cases With International Elements
Our family lawyers have a wealth of experience in dealing with cases that involve international elements. These cases can be particularly complex, involving numerous assets, including assets located in the UK and abroad, and business assets. We have successfully represented clients in a variety of cases, including those where:
A foreign divorce has already been granted, and the client wants to make an application to approve a consent order.
The parties have separate assets in different countries.
The parties have business assets.
The parties have assets in the UK and abroad.
Contact Our UK International Divorce Solicitors at our Manchester, London and Birmingham offices
Dealing with international family law matters can be challenging, but with the right legal representation, it is possible to achieve a positive outcome. At IMD Solicitors, our family law team has the expertise and experience required to handle even the most complex cross-border financial matters.
To talk to a member of specialist UK international divorce team to discuss your international divorce financial settlement case call us on 0330 107 0107 or arrange a free call back today.
F v F - Acted for a German husband in a complex financial remedy matter. He decided to instruct IMD Solicitors after he had lost trust in his previously instructed solicitors and feared that he would not achieve a favourable outcome from the proceedings. The relevant assets were spread across the globe with some located in the UK (including a multi-million pound business), Gibraltar, Spain, Dubai, and Poland. The overall value of assets exceeded £24 million. The husband had been cut off from the matrimonial assets and excluded from control of the business that had been established by his family. The case involved the instruction of numerous experts, for business valuations, Capital Gains Tax reports, and opinions on the enforcement of orders in foreign jurisdictions, and dealing with several applications, including applications for orders to freeze assets, prevent the disposition of assets, for the joinder of parties, and to litigate conduct issues. The final result exceeded the client’s expectations.
L v L - We were instructed by a mother in a complex international children matter. She was required by orders of the UK courts to return the child to the UK from Poland. She had travelled with the child to Poland but, following unsuccessful application to extend her stay there in August 2017, she decided not to return to the UK because the child disclosed sexual abuse by a member of the paternal family and the father. In September 2018, the Polish court dismissed the father’s Hague Convention application for the child's return on the basis of Article 13(b), a decision which the father appealed. In March 2019, the father applied to the UK High Court for an order for the child’s return pursuant to the procedure set out in Article 11(6) – (8) of the Brussels IIA Regulation. Despite the father's unsuccessful Hague Convention application in Poland, the UK court ordered the return of the child. Article 11 does not allow the court of the returning country much discretion. After all of this, the mother instructed IMD Solicitors to apply to discharge the orders of the UK Court for the return of the child. Even in the face of the fact that most applications to discharge such return orders fail, we succeeded. We are currently awaiting a decision in the UK courts on a further application for the transfer of jurisdiction to the Polish courts where the mother resides with the child.
G v P - We represent a Spanish mother in respect of an urgent application for a Child Arrangements Order and Specific Issue Order in the UK seeking the relocation of the child to Spain. This was after the return of the child to the UK under Hague Convection proceedings which this mother lost in Spain.
She was asking for an order for the relocation of the child back to Spain and an urgent interim Child Arrangements Order to allow her to see the child pending the final outcome of the UK proceedings. IMD successfully argued that, regardless of the return of the child to the UK under the Hague Convention, the mother should be allowed unsupervised overnight contact with the child. We were delighted to be able to secure her contact with the child for Christmas and she said that it was the best Christmas gift she could have wished for. The outcome of the application for the relocation is pending.
S v V - We currently represent the father in Child Arrangements Order proceedings issued by the mother in relation to variation of a UK order made in the face of numerous other international proceedings. He is an Italian National who has been living in France for the last 20 years and the mother is a Lithuanian national. The child is now 11 years old and proceedings concerning the child have been ongoing in various jurisdictions for the majority of the child`s life. Contested divorce proceedings including child arrangements took place in Monaco. The French Court and authorities were also involved, and various proceedings had been ongoing between parties since 2013 in France and Monaco.
The parties’ divorce was pronounced in Monaco. Thereafter, in December 2020, the mother submitted an application to relocate to England with the child, and the relocation took place in June 2021. Upon relocation, the she lodged a child arrangement order application, seeking to register a judgment made in Monaco and to vary the same in respect of the contact arrangements between the father and the child. The father seeks for the child’s return to Monaco.
Due to the parties’ mutual allegations and the associated international elements, various authorities and courts that have been involved in the case, the local authority has become involved with the family and a guardian has been instructed to represent the child in the UK proceedings. At present, these proceedings in England are ongoing and the outcome of the professional reports regarding the family are awaited.
P v P - We have acted for the Respondent Husband in relation to the financial remedy proceedings in the UK. The parties had various assets in the UK and Romania consisting mainly of the portfolio of properties but conduct issues were raised by the Wife due to a business of the Husband over which she had lost control and her allegations of dissipation of assets. The value of assets excluding the business were in a region of £3 million.
K v K - We act in financial remedy proceedings for a wife who is a Polish national. The matter's complexity mainly comes from a dispute between the parties around land in Poland. Its value was initially in dispute but was then assessed by a joint expert to be in the region of half a million pounds. The total assets in this case are estimated to be worth over £1 million. The land in Poland is a subject to contract with a third party and is being leased as a photovoltaic (solar) farm. The division of the land to achieve an equal share of the assets is complicated due to the contract in place and plans for the future use of the land. Currently the parties are awaiting a final hearing but efforts are being made to reach a settlement with the aid of alternative dispute resolution and in order to save the parties money and avoid further delays.
R v O - We acted pro bono and worked together with a law firm in Poland to ensure that the Costa Rican Mother regains access to her child. The Mother's only child was abducted from the UK in 2014. The Mother was successful with the abduction case and the UK family courts ordered the return of the child. The orders were recognised in Poland but unfortunately due to various issues with the Mother's immigration status and court's delays in Poland, the orders were never enforced. The Mother was facing removal from the UK and prospects of never seeing her child again. We have corresponded with various courts in Poland dealing with international abduction matters and we decided that an application for contact should be issued rather than any proceedings for further enforcement of the orders, as the Mother had not seen the child for around 7 years. At the same we secured the Mother's stay in the UK making successful outside of immigration rules application to extend her stay. We now receive regular photos from the Mother with her daughter, as face to face contact is taking place. We helped to secure an order of the Polish courts for the Mother to see the child regularly in person, whilst when she instructed us she was facing a prospect of never seeing her child again and being deported to Costa Rica.
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