The High Court has ordered a husband to transfer his beneficial interest in the family home to his wife after finding that a separation deed was not a bona fide agreement and did not make proper provision for her. The court also ordered him to pay her €100,000 and monthly maintenance for their dependent child.
Mr Justice Jordan delivered judgment on 25 July 2025 in the husband’s appeal from a Circuit Court divorce order following a hearing on 3 May 2024. The divorce proceedings began in September 2022. The court affirmed the decree of divorce and varied the provision made in the Circuit Court order. It finalised the order on 31 July and awarded the wife 75% of the appeal costs, with a discount because her side had previously failed to appear when the appeal was listed.
The couple had been married for 25 years and had two children. Their 2020 separation deed provided for the husband to fund work on a cottage for the wife and make other payments, while both spouses waived future claims including personal maintenance. The wife said she signed after being led to believe that a legal separation was needed to secure the family farm for her husband and children. The husband argued that the deed should be enforced.
The judge accepted the wife’s account and found her evidence reliable. He found the husband’s evidence unreliable and concluded that he had not fully disclosed his assets, income and resources. The court also rejected several debts claimed by the husband for lack of persuasive evidence. It found that the deed had been obtained through deliberate deception and was a strategy to minimise provision for the wife while protecting the farm. The court said it could give the deed little or no weight without declaring it void, because it could not displace the court’s duty to ensure proper provision in divorce proceedings.
The family home is legally registered in the name of the husband’s deceased mother, while the mortgage is in both spouses’ names. The court ordered the husband to transfer his beneficial interest to the wife, complete the steps needed to register her as full owner with suitable access rights, and discharge the mortgage. It also granted her the right to live there to the exclusion of the husband and permanently restrained him from interfering with her use of the property.
The husband must pay €100,000 in two instalments: €50,000 by 15 December 2025 and the balance by 20 July 2026. Any overdue balance will accrue interest at the Courts Act rate and be charged against a property folio until paid. He must also pay €440 a month for the maintenance of B while B remains dependent, plus his share of specified expenses. The court declared that the deed does not prevent the wife from applying for spousal maintenance in future; any such application will be decided by the court hearing it, on the evidence then available. The husband remains responsible for specified debts and liabilities under the deed and must indemnify the wife.