Appeal Out of Time

Nandu v Nandu (CLW 3 November CA)

After a 28-year marriage the petitioner divorced her husband on the grounds of his subsequent bigamous marriage. After the divorce he legally remarried but died within three and a half months after the judge had ordered the sale of the former matrimonial home and an equal division of its proceeds. The Court of Appeal allowed the wife’s application for permission to appeal out of time against the ancillary relief order and quashed the order, on the basis that the death of the husband had been unexpectedly early and clearly falsified the basis upon which the order had been made. It was highly unlikely that the judge would have ordered the sale of the matrimonial home with equal division of proceeds had he been aware of future events.