H v M (No 3)

Facts

H and M are former spouses whose financial dispute following a foreign divorce is being litigated in England under Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984. The case had already produced two reported judgments, H v M (No 1) and H v M (No 2), and returned to the court for a one-day hearing on 16 December 2025 to resolve a series of interim disputes. Central to those disputes was the Zx Hotel, owned by a foreign company RX, of which the Husband is sole owner, and operated under a ten-year lease by PX, a company in which the parties held equal shares through an English parent company. The lease was due to expire and, despite a short extension to 15 November 2025, the Husband announced that it would not be renewed, proposing instead that PX cease to be an operating company and that RX take over direct operation of the hotel. On 28 October 2025 the Husband gave undertakings to procure and vote for a further extension to 17 December 2025; the lease nonetheless expired unextended after his lawyers advised that he could only proceed with an indemnity, which the Wife refused. The Wife applied on 11 November 2025 for injunctive relief, and further disputes arose over the FDR timetable, interim maintenance, legal funding, costs and disclosure.