Child Maintenance Order Secured
We were instructed by the Wife. The parties were living in New Zealand. Upon separation, the Wife stated that she would be returning to England. Their home was sold and the proceeds of sale were held by a third party. The Husband put pressure on the Wife to divide up the proceeds of the family home before she left.
The Husband would not agree child support for their three children and the Wife could no longer afford to stay in NZ. The Wife used her share of the proceeds from the home to set her and her children up with rented accommodation and furniture in England. Her husband had kept most of the items of furniture and what was left, the Wife could not afford to have shipped over.
The Husband employed solicitors in England and enlisted the help of a barrister in NZ. The Wife was put under pressure to accept a clean break order and no child support for the children. The Husband suggested that the jurisdiction lay with the NZ courts and not UK and threatened to contest the Wife’s UK divorce petition.
Without the advice she received from us, the Wife would have given in under pressure of the Husband’s representatives. When we pressed the Husband’s representatives on a number of occasions to state their case and then asked the court to make directions the Husband did not pursue his jurisdictional argument. The Wife also benefited from representation from us as she secured an order for maintenance and for the arrears the Husband owed to be paid. The Husband was made clearly aware that he could not escape child support and that an order could be made in the UK in his absence and enforced through REMO. As a result the case was settled before final hearing.
