Financial Documents

Husbands and wives are entitled to privacy against each other. There is a risk of both civil and criminal sanctions for both you and your legal representatives in taking or using confidential documents. The recent case of Tchenguiz v Imerman and Others [2010] EWHC 64 (Fam) means matrimonial lawyers need to establish parameters within which ancillary relief cases can now be managed and confidential documents dealt with.

Confidential Documents

These fall into the following categories:

Documents given to you by your partner during the relationship (there is an argument that your partner has waived confidentiality in relation to these documents) Documents accessible to you given the nature of the relationship (confidentiality may have been waived depending on the circumstances, e.g.: where were the documents located? What was the extent to which the information was shared between you and your partner? What is the nature of the information? Did you read the documents during the marriage with your partner's understanding? How did you and your partner manage your finances and filing system?) Documents personal to your partner which were not openly accessible to you. If you access their personal space (e.g. a private office) and obtain documents it is likely these documents will retain their confidential nature. Documents found prior to exchange of financial disclosure (Forms E) are differentiated from documents found after exchange of financial disclosure.

Documents Found Prior to Exchange of Forms E

Practitioners have to be extremely cautious when receiving from you documents belonging to your partner prior to exchange of Forms E. If you have documents belonging to your partner, please note the following:

We will need to take full instructions from you as to the circumstances within which you came to hold the documents We will need to advise you of the possible implications of reading the documents (which may include an application by your partner for us to cease to act for you). We and you must not read the documents or take copies These documents cannot be retained. We will have to do one of the following: (i) Send the documents to your partner's solicitors in an envelope and ask for a copy of the documents, for an opportunity to read the documents or for the documents to be considered by your partner's solicitors at the appropriate stage of disclosure with a request that they are held by your partner's solicitors prior to the exchange of Forms...