Remarriage and delay; effect on Financial Provision on Divorce

The recent case of QW V GH [2025] illustrates the importance of ensuring a financial agreement is reached upon divorce at the time of the divorce and embodied into an Order of the Court, particularly where remarriage is contemplated.

In QW v GH the parties divorced in 2015, after a 22-year marriage. However no financial agreement was entered into at the time and 8 years later the Wife applied to the Court for financial provision. The wife had remarried in 2016. The husband continued to live at the family home, which was owned in the wife and husband’s joint names.

The Court had to determine:

On the basis the parties had agreed the family home should be sold, in what percentage the sale proceeds should be split, given that the husband had continued to make mortgage repayments and had repaid approximately £85,000 of mortgage capital over the 8 years; and
Whether the Wife could bring her claim for financial provision where she had remarried.

The Court decided that:

The husband should benefit from the capital repayments he had made towards the mortgage since separation, with him receiving a lump sum of £85,000 before the remaining sale proceeds were divided between them equally (the wife having not contributed to the mortgage payments during that time); and
Where the Wife in her divorce application had indicated she wanted to apply for a financial order, the Court had jurisdiction to hear her claim. If the Wife hadn’t have indicated this on her divorce application, she would not have been able to pursue her claim via the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 in respect of the property due to her remarriage.

The key points to note are:

1. If you are the applicant, ensure you indicate on the divorce application that you want to apply for a financial order so you can pursue financial claims in the event you remarry before such claims are dealt with. Best practice is though not to remarry until such financial claims have been finalised in full.

2. If you are the respondent to a divorce application or as the applicant have not indicated on the divorce application that you want to apply for a financial order, you should make an application for financial provision to the Court before you remarry. This is done by submitting a Form A to the Court. If you fail to do so then be aware, that if you remarry in such circumstances:

you will be barred from making new financial claims via the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 against your former spouse (save in relation to pension provision) and the Court may not be able to approve any agreement reached by consent.
Any potential claims would instead have to be considered via other means such as under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 in relation to property. The factors which the Court has to take into account are very different under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 than the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 and the outcome may therefore differ considerably; and
Your former spouse on the basis they have not remarried can still pursue their financial claims against you.

3. Even after a long period of separation the Court can still make financial provision if the relevant applications have been made and you haven’t remarried, as there is no time limit for making an application for a financial order. Circumstances may be very different by this point meaning financial provision is made which was never envisaged at the time of the divorce and/or parties may have arranged their affairs in the meantime believing no claim would be made.

Support

If you are going through a divorce or separation and have queries around the impact of remarriage or the financial provision to which you are entitled then please contact Zoe Gaitskell, a partner in the firm’s family finance team on 01824 625821, zoe.gaitskell@porterdodson.co.uk.

Zoe is a Resolution accredited specialist in complex financial issues and a member of the Law Society’s Family Law Accreditation Scheme. She is recognised in the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners for her empathy, intellect and expertise in dealing with difficult and complex family law cases.