Enforcing international divorce decisions
When the dust settles after a relationship breakdown, thoughts turn to implementing what has been agreed in the divorce. This issue can be complicated by ex-partners living in different countries as overseas courts may need to get involved.
Here, we outline what to do if issues with child maintenance and financial agreements emerge.
What are my options if my ex-spouse does not pay the child maintenance agreed in a foreign court?
Child arrangements made abroad can be successfully enforced in England and Wales, and vice versa, due to the many international agreements in place to support families. To speed up and simplify the process, there are routes for automatic communications between legal systems in the EU and beyond. In England, this process is abbreviated to REMO – Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders.
Unfortunately, that’s not to say the process of accessing the agreed financial support will be easy or quick. If you’re a parent in England or Wales with care of your children and your ex-partner is refusing to pay from abroad, what to do will depend on where the maintenance was agreed: there is no standard approach. Whatever happens, it will likely involve more than one court in more than one jurisdiction, meaning a result can be months, in some cases years, in the making.
How are foreign financial orders enforced in the Family Court in England and Wales?
Despite REMO's provisions, the enforcement of international financial agreements is a complicated process, influenced by two factors:
- Where the order was made - Arrangements for how to enforce orders vary between legal jurisdictions.
- The type of financial order - The method for dividing a pension differs from the processes used for ongoing maintenance, lump sums, or property settlements.
If your ex-spouse is not following an agreed financial order, you need to get legal help as soon as possible. Our lawyers can help you navigate this complexity, as they do for other families every day.
How do courts uphold financial decisions made abroad?
Your court order is not worth the paper it’s written on if you can’t get hold of the assets.
If you have an English financial order but the property or finances you are searching for are overseas, you will usually have to take proceedings abroad to track down the assets in question.
If you have a financial order made overseas and live in the UK, you may need to apply to the court here to recognise the financial order made abroad.
Exactly what happens will depend on a variety of factors, from whether the party is using the asset in question to the type of asset: dividing physical property naturally follows a different process to that of a bank account.
Setting the foundations
Try to avoid cross-border enforcement issues by choosing your jurisdiction for divorce wisely. You don’t want to agree to an order that will be troublesome and expensive to secure because you are navigating multiple legal systems. Find out how to choose where to divorce.
Taking action
If issues arise post-divorce, our experienced lawyers are here to help - from recovering financial assets to requesting orders for sale and correcting claims based on incorrect information overseas.
