Lawyer Monthly Magazine - March 2020 Edition

Regulations) often permit people to initiate divorce proceedings in the UK even where neither party is living there. Where there is the possibility of divorce proceedings in more than one country, it is vital for clients to obtain early advice about how best to protect their interests, often from lawyers in more than one country. The ultimate decision about where to apply for divorce can depend upon various considerations, such as where the bulk of the assets are situated. Divorcing whilst living abroad can trigger various legal consequences, for example, immigration issues, so it’s important to think through these at an early stage. How complicated does dividing assets become with ex-pat divorces? If an ex-pat divorce is proceeding in the UK, then the principles governing financial provision will be those of the part of the UKwhere the divorce is taking place. However, matters can become complicated in a variety of ways. The first problem can be one of obtaining disclosure in relation to assets situated abroad. There are steps we can take in UK divorce proceedings to find out the nature and extent of assets in the UK, but it’s potentially much harder if these are scattered across a number of countries. If there are significant assets abroad, then enforcing any judgment made by a UK court can also be extremely difficult. Sharing pensions situated outside of the UK, whilst not always impossible, is complex even where the parties are entirely cooperative. Can things become more complicated when children are involved? Family law cases in general can become more complicated when children are involved, and that is most certainly the case in an international context. Whilst a UK court might have jurisdiction to make orders relating to children abroad by virtue of the parties’ divorce taking place in the UK, actually enforcing those orders can at times be impossible. An ex-pat with children often can’t simply return to the UK with the children, without obtaining either the consent of the other spouse or the approval of the We are often instructed by people living in Scotland who find themselves on the receiving end of English proceedings. What happens when an ex-pat wants to file for divorce? We tend to find that, when a marriage goes awry, ex-pats will typically look to their home country for legal assistance, rather than relying on the legal system of the place in which they happen to be living. Depending on where the parties are living and on their nationalities, the rules governing jurisdiction (which are of course currently based on EU 55 MAR 2020 | WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM An Interview With “ Divorcing whilst living abroad can trigger various legal consequences, for example, immigration issues, so it’s important to think through these at an early stage.”