Ex-husbands who don’t pay up after divorce could lose driving licences

DIVORCeD men who try to wriggle out of paying off their ex-wives could face a driving ban.

Law reformers yesterday called for fresh sanctions against those who avoid paying divorce settlements ordered by the courts.

Among the penalties should be 12month driving bans and the confiscation of passports, the Law Commission said.

The plan for husbands, and some wives, follows complaints that ‘family financial orders’ imposed in a divorce are frequently ignored, and that those who fail to pay cannot easily be punished.

At present the only penalty a wife can ask for if her former husband fails to pay up is a prison sentence, but judges need a criminal standard of proof before they will send an unco-operative divorcee to jail, so the punishment is rarely enforced.

The Commission’s recommendations mean a husband who has not paid could be disqualified from driving for a year. A court would return his licence if he handed over the money.

however, the report said, it would be self-defeating to impose a driving ban on someone who needed to drive to earn a living, because they would lose the ability to make the money to pay their former spouse.

So, it also recommended that judges should have powers to confiscate passports. Only UK passports should be taken, the report said, and they should be given back when the erring spouse pays up.

Courts in england and Wales make 90,000 family financial orders each year, and they feature in three out of four divorce cases. The report said: ‘As the orders are made by the court to meet needs, non-compliance can have a devastating impact. Rent or mortgage payments may be missed; basic necessities may become unaffordable; children’s standard of living may be affected.

‘enforcement can be difficult … Ineffective enforcement causes real hardship, results in costs to the state and undermines confidence in the justice system.’

Law commissioner Professor Nicholas hopkins said: ‘The current law for the enforcement of family financial orders is unnecessarily complicated and often ineffective. These problems cause real hardship for the individuals involved. Judges need the necessary powers to ensure that those who can pay, but choose not to, comply with court orders.’

It would be up to spouses who had not been paid – usually women – to apply to the court for a driving or travel ban to be enforced.

The proposals also say courts should have powers to get information on the real wealth of a divorcee who refuses to pay, including access to bank accounts and tax records.

But the Commission abandoned the idea of curfews and electronic tagging for spouses who refuse to pay up, deciding this would be too expensive. They also said this would treat divorcees in too similar a way to criminal offenders.

The recommendations will be sent to Justice Secretary Liz Truss, who will decide whether they should form the basis of new legislation.

Lawyer Jenny Arnold, of JMW Solicitors, said: ‘The measures suggested will send an important message because they impact on someone’s lifestyle and, therefore, might be the kind of pressure capable of persuading them to pay up.’

But she said the proposals left loopholes, particularly for selfemployed people who may be able to move earnings out of the UK.