Amy Winehouse’s ex, Blair Fielder-Civil, is allegedly making a £1 million claim on her estate, even though she apparently paid him a £250,000 settlement when they divorced in 2009.
Even though they are divorced, he may have a successful claim.
When you get divorced you have to agree what will happen to your finances afterwards. This may be less complicated to work through when you’ve only been married a short time and you have no children.
If you and your ex-partner can agree how to split your marital belongings and money, you can ask a divorce solicitor to draft a Consent Order for you. This sets out what you’ve agreed to do with your finances and how you’ll split everything up.
Once agreed and drawn up, it will go to a Judge in the Family Court who will review it, make sure it’s fair and grant the Order.
When making the order, it’s important to include a clean break clause. This is important as you probably won’t want to have an ongoing financial commitment to each other such as maintenance payments.
If you do not enter into a Consent Order then there is a real possibility that your former partner can make a claim on your future assets.
As Amy Winehouse did not have a Consent Order when she and Blair got divorced, there is a good chance that he could have a claim against her estate, even though she apparently paid a financial settlement to him when they divorced.
In a similar case, the High Court awarded the ex-wife of Dale Vance, owner of Ecotricity, £300,000 even though the couple divorced more than 10 years before Dale Vance became a millionaire.
Whilst these two examples are of wealthy people, receiving an inheritance or getting a lottery win can happen.
The best way to protect yourself from any future financial claim from your ex-partner is to make sure you enter into a consent order after your divorce.
You can do this by asking a specialist Divorce Solicitor to help you agree your finances after divorce. After all, the divorce only deals with ending your marriage – you still need to sever the financial ties you have with your former partner.
