‘Super-rich’ divorce fights to be heard in special courts

Cases involving large sums of money to be moved to speed up the 49-week wait for a decree absolute

DIVORCE battles among the super wealthy will be heard in separate courts under a plan to make the system more efficient, it has been announced.

Sir James Munby, the head of the family court, said the new courts would separate the process of divorce from financial claims, which can involve millions of pounds and take several years to resolve.

Financial remedies courts will be launched in three areas from February, allowing cases where there are disputes over money to be heard in a different court from more common cases that do not involve a battle over finances.

Experts said the change would speed the system up for both types of divorce.

Figures released by the Ministry of Justice show that the average number of weeks it takes for a case to get to a decree absolute – the final stage – has risen from 42 in 2006 to almost 49 last year. The shift has been caused by administrative delays, which the courts have tried to resolve by centralising the system.

In 2014-2015, 11 divorce centres were created, and legal advisers were given the power to deal with cases that did not involve financial settlements.

There are hopes that the new process will reduce delays and inefficiencies caused by courts hearing many different types of cases, including complex financial disputes.

The new system will also mean that financial disputes are heard by judges who are experts in the field, reducing the length of time taken to process.

Figures show that 33,433 financial remedy cases were dealt with by the courts last year, the majority of which were uncontested. In total the courts granted 108,793 decrees absolute.

Announcing the change, Sir James said the case for specialist financial courts had been “persuasively argued” by other judges. He also signalled his own support for reform earlier this year. In an article published in May he said: “Has the time not come to bring about a complete de-linking – separation – of divorce and ‘money’, so that they are started and pursued by completely separate processes, albeit, of course, that the timeline for ancillary [financial] relief is determined by the progress of the divorce?”

Toby Hales, partner in the family team at London law firm Seddons, said the move was welcome.

“The more experienced and specialist the judge, the better the outcome for separating couples,” he said. A similar system already runs in the southeast of England by the mutual agreement of judges who allocate cases to different courts based on the expertise of the judges there, but this is the first time such a system has been organised centrally.

“If divorce administration centres are properly staffed and resourced, the outcomes can also be very positive,” he said.

The new system will be piloted in London, the West Midlands and southeast Wales.