Can I prevent my wife from disposing of our assets?

Q. My wife and I are going through divorce proceedings and there is a great deal of bitterness between us.

A significant number of our investments, including cash in bank accounts and one of our properties, are held in my wife’s sole name.

Recently she has sent an email to me threatening to empty the bank accounts and transfer the funds to her sister who lives in Turkey. She has also said that she is going to transfer the property held in her name to her mother.

I am extremely concerned about this as the total amount of cash in the bank accounts is in excess of £200,000 and the property is worth £750,000. Is there anything that I can do to prevent this?

A. It may be possible to apply to the court for a Freezing Injunction. This is an order made by the court which prevents a person from disposing of assets which are listed in the order. The court could include both the bank accounts and the property within the order. However, these orders are not easily obtained.

To succeed you will need to demonstrate to the court that there is a real risk that your spouse will seek to dispose of the assets and deny you what you would be due under the terms of a divorce settlement.

You will need to produce evidence of this in order to persuade the court to grant this type of injunction. You must also be aware that if it is later found that a freezing injunction should not have been granted you may need to pay damages to your spouse.

It is important to seek specialist legal advice if you believe that your spouse may attempt to dispose of assets to reduce the amount available to be divided on divorce. As this is an urgent situation you should seek specialist legal advice as soon as possible.

For more information on asset disposal during divorce, or to discuss any aspect of family law, contact Janine Hutson on 01772 258321 or janine.hutson@harrison-drury.com