FG v BN (Appeal Out of Time)

Facts

The parties, now aged 74 (the husband) and 58 (the wife), married on 24 May 1997 and separated on or around 27 November 2023, after a marriage of some 26½ years. There is one child of the marriage, AB, aged 21 and an undergraduate at CD University. The wife, a qualified teacher latterly working as a private tutor, issued her financial remedies claim on 7 March 2024 and filed her Form E on 19 June 2024. The husband, a former solicitor who now sits as a part-time tribunal judge, filed no Form E and complied with none of the First Appointment directions agreed before Deputy District Judge Glasner on 19 July 2024, despite a penal notice. The listed hearing on 16 January 2025 was accordingly converted from an FDR to a final hearing, which neither the husband nor his then solicitors attended. District Judge Hartley, sitting in the family court at Kingston Upon Thames, drew adverse inferences of undisclosed assets and pension rights, assessed the net assets at circa £1.9m and awarded the wife £900,000 on a needs basis, comprising a £700,000 housing fund and a £200,000 income fund, made up of the net equity of two properties to be sold and a balancing lump sum of £35,314. The husband lodged an appeal 10½ months out of time, seeking relief from sanctions, permission to appeal, permission to adduce new evidence and a stay.