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Court dismisses appeal against order to vacate matrimonial home

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by a divorcee against an order that she must vacate her former matrimonial home.

In this recently published case, the former wife, referred to in court documents as Ms Pilipenko, had been ordered to leave her former matrimonial home on receipt of the first two of payments by her former husband which had been agreed as per of her divorce settlement.

After an initial unsuccessful attempt to appeal the order, Ms Pilipenko received the first payment from her husband, a Mr Bar’yudin, but did not leave the family home. As a result, on 21 September 2011,  His Honour Judge Brasse issued a possession order against her. She then  applied for a stay and permission to appeal. Lord Justice Ward granted a temporary stay to allow her to present Judge Brasse with fresh evidence relating to the divorce settlement. She claimed that Mr Bar’yudin had not made a full disclosure of his financial assets.

But Judge Brasse dismissed her application at the beginning of this year. Ms Pilipenko again applied for permission to appeal, but this was refused by Lord Justice Ward. A second request, to appeal against the original possession order was also refused. Nevertheless Ms Pilipenkdo still failed to leave her home.

On 20 July this year, Judge Brasse issued a warrant of possession. Ms Pilipenko now applied for permission to appeal this order, claiming in her argument that she had further evidence to suggest that the financial settlement granted after her divorce was wrong and that Mr Bar’yudin’s assets had not been fully declared during the divorce.

This application to appeal has now been dismissed. In his ruling Lord Justice Lewison described the latest legal action as “….simply an attempt to circumvent the previous rulings … It is to my mind an abuse of process.”
At an earlier hearing, in August, Ms Pilikpenko was found guilty of contempt of court as he had failed to leave her former matrimonial home despite legal orders. Lord Justice Lewison also dismissed her appeal against this ruling, upholding a sentence of 14 days imprisonment suspended for 12 months.

The blog team at Stowe is a group of writers based across our family law offices who share their advice on the wellbeing and emotional aspects of divorce or separation from personal experience. As well as pieces from our family law solicitors, guest contributors also regularly contribute to share their knowledge.

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