In the current economic climate solicitors are increasingly being consulted for advice on how to vary divorce settlements. 

 

Whether the Court imposed an order or the couple were able to negotiate the terms of a consent order, a change of circumstances has left people unable to honour what was previously arranged.

 

Family lawyers are increasingly being asked to advise clients on their options in the light of changed circumstances. This may be due to the fall in the value of assets and property or the loss of income and bonuses.

 

Today, those previously enjoying high levels of income are seeing their pay reduced and their bonus prospects vanish. 

 

Many maintenance settlements will have factored in predicted future bonuses, with wives and children expecting to enjoy the rewards of the husband’s total annual income.

 

The difficulty now is how a family makes the adjustment from what was expected to what is achievable. People are being left unable to honour commitments such as school fees and maintenance orders.The advice for those that have seen their income reduced or have lost their job is to seek immediate legal advice.

 

People are bound by court orders that impose legal obligations upon them. If they are unable to honour those commitments they must apply to the court to vary the order otherwise they will fall into arrears which could be enforced against their assets.

 

After an application to vary is made the court will deal sympathetically with people whose changed circumstances mean they are unable to pay.

 

Very often a couple will renegotiate the maintenance order and the most cost efficient way of achieving this is to sit around the table with their solicitors or a mediator to find a solution.

 

The proposed rearrangement can then be submitted in writing to the court which avoids personal attendance and lengthy expensive and uncertain litigation.

 

The scope to renegotiate divorce settlements will depend on the precise terms and the nature of the significant change of circumstances.