The High Court has varied a 2008 divorce settlement during its execution, deleting a €350,000 lump sum due to the wife and replacing it with monthly maintenance of €2,700. The court also removed the settlement’s full and final clause and imposed new financial reporting and arrears provisions.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Henry Abbott on 20 January 2012, concerned a variation application brought by the husband after the lump sum remained unpaid. The original decree had followed a settlement that also provided for annual maintenance of €45,000, pension adjustment orders and blocking orders under section 18 of the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996.
The wife asked the court to set the settlement aside, alleging inadequate financial disclosure by the husband. Her concerns included his interest in property abroad, payments to his brother and income from his regulated business. The husband said his income had fallen sharply and that he had taken on family debts. These were the parties’ positions; the court considered the matter on the evidence and submissions before it.
The judge criticised the husband’s disclosure and accounting, and said he had doubts about the husband’s account of the foreign property. But the wife had not joined the husband’s mother or siblings, who were connected to the property, and the court decided it was safer not to include its value in the settlement adjustment. The court also said the information ultimately obtained was sufficient for it to make provision under the law.
The court treated the original settlement as a template and adjusted it in light of changed circumstances, including the economic downturn. It ordered the husband to provide for the son’s education, health insurance and college maintenance, and ended his responsibility for household utilities. The wife’s maintenance is to rise with the cost of living every three years. For three years from the judgment, the husband cannot seek a reduction solely because the wife becomes employed or runs a profitable business.
The court stayed the section 18 blocking orders until the wife reaches pensionable age, specified in the order as 68, or an earlier date depending on pension entitlement. The husband must provide annual Revenue returns and accounts from 31 December 2013, together with professional body accounts every second year and an accountant’s compliance note. The wife may seek a charge for maintenance arrears exceeding €5,000 that remain unpaid for more than six months.
The husband was made liable for the costs of the Circuit Court proceedings, with a certificate for half senior counsel’s fees. The parties may apply within six months to restore a full and final settlement clause if they agree an appropriate increased lump sum and changes to approximate terms of an earlier order.