Project Report

for
FAMILY
LAW
ON ANCILLARY RELIEF
Submitted to: Mrs Jaymala mam
Submitted by: GauravDuhan
B.A.LLB(Hons)
(Roll no.76)
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am using this opportunity to express my gratitude to

everyone who supported me throughout the course of
this project. I am thankful for their aspiring guidance,
invaluably constructive criticism and friendly advice
during the project work. I am sincerely grateful to
them for sharing their truthful and illuminating views
on a number of issues related to the project.

I express my warm thanks to Dr. jaymala mam for

their support and guidance

Thank you!
What is ancillary relief?

Ancillary relief is the term given to any financial settlement

following or during divorce or judicial separation proceedings.
This can be reached through an agreement, or by an order from
the court.
In most divorce cases the husband and wife (called the
parties ) will have some property such as a house, savings,
shares or endowment policies which are owned between them
in some way (joint ownership) and other property in their
sole names e.g. bank accounts; sometimes the house will be
owned by only one party .

There are also likely to be pensions, intended to benefit both

parties in retirement.
The court has wide powers to reallocate the parties assets, in
order to achieve a just and fair division. The court is not
concerned with actual ownership.
Procedure
The request for any of the above orders should
be initially included in the divorce petition or the
answer to the petition from the Respondent.
Then a notice of intention to proceed with an
application must be sent to the court on Form
16. Applications for ancillary relief should be
made within 6 months of decree nisi, whoever is
applying, but a Respondent must apply before
2 months have elapsed after the decree
absolute has been pronounced.
Once the Greffier has received the application
on Form 16 the case is listed for a Preliminary
Directions hearing (PDH). The legal
representatives of each party must attend this
hearing, and any party not represented must
attend in person. Directions will be given at this
hearing about the disclosure of further financial
information, the valuation of assets, the need for
expert advice, other parties who may need to
be involved, the date for further hearings, and
whether or not the case should be delayed to
allow the parties to go to mediation or some
other form of alternative dispute resolution.
If the case continues, once the directions have
been complied with, a further hearing, a Case
Review Hearing, is arranged. The purpose of this
hearing is to define the issues and limit costs if at
all possible. Any further directions needed are
given at this hearing and arrangements are
made for a final hearing of the matter.
At any stage in the proceedings the court may ask for
details of the costs incurred.
FOUR WAYS TO GET ANCILLARY RELIEF
There are basically 4 ways of dealing with financial
matters on divorce without going to court:

Kitchen table agreements

Where both parties are on reasonable terms with each other it
is usually possible for them to decide financial matters between
themselves. This may be after each has had an initial
consultation with a family lawyer. If an agreement can be
reached in this way then the agreement can be taken to a
family lawyer to be drafted in the correct form to be submitted
to the court as a consent order. It is helpful if each party has
had independent legal advice in respect of the agreement, but
in these cases it is not necessary for lawyers to get involved in
negotiation, the parties are able agree matters between
themselves.

Mediation
In family mediation the usual arrangement is that an
independent mediator helps the couple to reach an
agreement over finances, and frequently matters
involving children as well. In Jersey, historically there
have only been childrens issues mediators at the
Jersey Family Mediation Service, but there is now the
possibility of family mediation involving financial
matters. Each party attends an intake meeting to
see whether mediation is appropriate, then a series
of weekly meetings with the parties and the mediator
take place. The sessions typically last about one and
a half hours.
However, because of the small number of family
mediators in Jersey, some couples have entered into
mediation run in the same way as civil/commercial
mediations. In these, a mediator will assist the parties
to come to a resolution of their problems, but, unlike
in family mediation, the parties will have their lawyers
with them to advise them. Such mediations usually
take place over one or two days for several hours at
a time. The mediator is paid jointly by the parties.
Once a mediated settlement has been reached, the
parties then need to instruct their lawyers to draft the
relevant consent order for the court.

Negotiation through lawyers

Traditionally, prior to making any applications to the
court, family lawyers try to reach a financial
settlement by first of all requesting full disclosure of all
financial details from both sides, then making
proposals for settlement. Frequently this results in
agreement and this is recorded in a consent order,
which the court can (although it does not have to)
ratify so that the agreement becomes a court order.
However, there are sometimes misunderstandings,
and where settlement is not possible then
applications are made to the court.

Collaborative Law
This is a new way of resolving family law disputes
where the parties agree not to go to court. All
negotiations then take place at face-to-face round
table meetings with each party and their specially
trained Collaborative Lawyer. There are many
advantages to this way of resolving disputes, but
there does have to be a commitment by the parties
to be open and honest with their financial disclosure.
Because there is no application to the court, the
parties are free to come up with creative and holistic
resolutions of their differences.
Once an agreement is reached, it is then embodied in a consent
order and sent to the court.
Applications to the court for ancillary
relief

If an agreement cannot be reached then an

application can be made to the court for:

a transfer of property,
an order for the sale of property,
maintenance both for a former spouse and for any
children,
a lump sum, including interim payments and
secured payments, and
variation of any settlements or trusts which already
exist.

There is no power in Jersey for the courts to make a pension

sharing order. Applications can also be made in respect of
children, and in certain circumstances children may be
separately represented within the proceedings, if their financial
situation needs to be protected.

The overriding objective

The Matrimonial Causes Rules impose on the court an

overriding objective to deal with cases justly. This
means that the court must ensure that the parties are
treated fairly and are on an equal footing. There is
also an obligation to ensure that the case is dealt
with in ways that are proportionate, and where
possible to save expense.
There are several ways in which the court can further the
overriding objective, for example through active case
management. There is provision for the court to delay any
proceedings to allow parties to attend mediation or other
methods of Alternative Dispute Resolution.