The High Court has ruled that a family home should be transferred entirely to a wife after the property arrangements agreed in a judicial separation settlement became impossible to complete.
C. O’C. and D. O’C., who married in 1988 and had six children, reached a settlement in February 2008. Under it, the wife was to transfer her interest in the family home, Cluain Ard, to her husband. In return, he was to transfer another property, The Rivers, to her free of mortgage debt.
The wife also transferred interests in other properties and a computer company as required. The planned exchange of Cluain Ard and The Rivers was never completed.
Ms Justice Dunne found that Anglo Irish Bank had initially been expected to release its security over The Rivers but later declined to do so. By May 2008 the husband knew of the difficulty, but the wife was not informed until around the time the transfers were due to close in October.
The husband’s finances had meanwhile deteriorated sharply. His affidavit of means showed several properties in negative equity, including a commercial property valued at about €7 million against borrowings exceeding €9.5 million. The Rivers was valued at about €650,000 with more than €1 million outstanding.
The court declined to set aside the original consent settlement. Dunne J said the financial deterioration was more a continuation of existing difficulties than the kind of wholly new event that would justify undoing a freely negotiated agreement.
However, Irish family law permits further property adjustment orders. In deciding what order was now just, the judge considered the original settlement, the wife’s substantial compliance with it, the husband’s inability to deliver The Rivers mortgage-free and the accommodation needs of the wife and four children living with her.
The judge concluded that those needs were best protected by transferring the husband’s entire interest in Cluain Ard to the wife. Maintenance and the outstanding €20,000 lump sum were left for further consideration.