The High Court recently heard the case of Cummings v Fawn, involving an academic at St Andrews University concealing a £4 million inheritance from his former wife.

The judge said Cummings was a victim of “fraud” due to the husband’s failure to disclose the true size of the inheritance, and ordered a retrial of the financial remedies hearing.

Partner Renato Labi commented that “divorcing parties sometimes withhold financial information, which is a high risk strategy. As this case shows, if you are found out, it can be very expensive. Judges understandably hate being lied to, and if this comes to light you’ll end up paying out much more.”

He further noted that it is now extremely difficult to withhold information during proceedings, as “the family court has searching powers to force disclosure of documents – including those as drastic as ordering a bank to produce statements if someone can’t or won’t do it themselves.”

Read Renato’s comments in The Legal Diary, here.