Dating before the divorce.

An excellent article in the Solicitors Journal “the real fly in the ointment” 18 November 2014 (www.solicitorsjournal.com) expands on the ruling of Mostyn J about dating before divorce.

He called it the “fly in the ointment”.  What he meant was that Judges cannot not in practice disregard a new relationship before divorce.  If for example the wife had moved in with a wealthy man, and the husband was ordered to pay a high degree of maintenance, he would have a justifiable grievance if he thought that “another man should look after her”.

Equally she might be aggrieved if she got a lower sum of maintenance, only to find that the relationship she entered into faltered, and did not blossom into something more permanent.

Internet dating no longer has the stigma that it once had, and “Relationships on the rebound” are very common.  During a stressful divorce, a party is highly likely to seek to make new friends and enter new relationships.

This really will be expanded in later cases, but for the moment parties to a divorce must be very cautious about new relationships because it could cost them dearly.

There is a lot of talk about what cohabitation means.  Two nights a week?  Three nights a week?  Enquiry agents/private detectives used to chalk the tyres of cars parked overnight at midnight, and then go off and come back at 6 a.m.  If the chalk mark was in the same place that was deemed to be evidence of the person staying overnight.

Try to avoid going down that sort of route.

As always, expert legal advice should be taken if you are getting divorced especially if you want to enter into any relationship before the finances are finalised.

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