The High Court granted a decree of judicial separation to A. O’M. under section 2(1)(a) of the Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act 1989, after hearing her evidence about the breakdown of the marriage. Mr Justice Binchy delivered the ex tempore judgment on 14 December 2018.
The court awarded the applicant sole custody and primary care of the couple’s two children. The judge relied on the applicant’s evidence, including that the respondent had disengaged from the family after she left country X in April 2016, and on reports from a doctor dated March 2017. Those reports said the children had adjusted well to life in Ireland and were happy and stable. The judge decided it was unnecessary to hear directly from the children.
The respondent had applied in November 2016 for the children’s return to country X, where the family had lived until April 2016. He withdrew that application in March 2017 and, the judgment said, had not engaged further in the family proceedings. The applicant said his Skype contact with the children had also stopped.
The court continued an interim maintenance order requiring payment of €6,000 a month for the applicant and children. The order, made on 28 July 2017, had been paid for only three months, with the respondent’s employer’s assistance, according to the applicant’s evidence. The judge found arrears of €84,000. He considered the applicant’s stated monthly outgoings of €6,263 and income of €1,766, as well as her expected need to retrain before returning to work.
The court ordered an apartment in Dublin, held in the respondent’s sole name, and a jointly held site in Northern Ireland transferred to the applicant. It also ordered the respondent’s unexercised share options and other money retained by his employer to be transferred to her. Rental receipts from the apartment were to continue going to its mortgage account. The judgment noted that the apartment had an estimated net value of €142,915 and the Northern Ireland site was valued at about €52,000.
The judgment recorded evidence about other assets, share options already exercised, the respondent’s past income and transfers to bank accounts in Poland. The judge said the available information suggested the respondent might have assets of about €983,645, while noting uncertainty about a tax deduction and that living expenses had to be considered. The court said the orders made provided reasonable security but might require review as circumstances allowed.
The court also extinguished the respondent’s entitlement to a share of the applicant’s estate. It ordered him to pay the applicant’s costs in the separation proceedings and the withdrawn Hague Convention application, with costs to be taxed and ascertained.