Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of mechanisms for enforcing family court property adjustment orders.

The Government recognises that there is clear evidence of challenges faced by victim-survivors of domestic abuse in financial proceedings on divorce, including in relation to enforcement of financial orders, such as property adjustment orders. Enforcement is a critical issue within the wider context of domestic abuse, including economic abuse, as failures to secure compliance can perpetuate harm and undermine the intent of court orders. As outlined in the Government’s recent consultation, A Fairer End to Relationships, we recognise the importance of this issue and will give further careful consideration to how it might best be addressed.

The Government also recognises concerns about the adequacy of existing legal protections in preventing economic abuse through the disposal, transfer or occupation of property. Whilst protections exist for divorcing couples, the law does not currently provide a specific legislative framework giving financial rights and protections for cohabitants who separate. Our consultation proposed new framework of protections for cohabitants, and also asked for views on how domestic abuse, including economic abuse, could be taken into account in financial proceedings on divorce and in any future cohabitation proceedings. The consultation has now closed and the Government is considering the responses before finalising its policies.

The Department does not collect data on cases in which domestic abuse survivors are unable to access or occupy property awarded to them through family court proceedings.