Family Law Journal features Jamie Kennaugh, Hanh Nguyen, Francesca Heath-Clarke, Charlotte Posnansky, and Daniel Staunton on the interplay between family and insolvency law

In an article for Family Law Journal, Jamie Kennaugh, Partner, and Charlotte Posnansky, Consultant in our Family team, collaborate with Hanh Nguyen, Partner, Francesca Heath-Clarke, Associate, and Daniel Staunton, Knowledge Development Lawyer in our Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency team. They consider the intersection of family and insolvency law in cases involving the family home.

Given that the family home is usually the most valuable asset available to satisfy both financial remedy claims and creditor recoveries, what commonalities can be found between the family and insolvency courts? 

The team evaluate the insolvency and family courts' shared policy aims, namely to protect vulnerable innocent parties (usually spouses and children) where possible, and how they have sought to do so through the enforcement of various statutory provisions and the development of equitable principles. These provisions and principles are all crafted to protect occupation rights or to assert ownership rights, aiming to prevent or delay the repossession and sale of the family home.  

The piece also explores how the approach of the family and insolvency courts can often collide, such as through competing stakeholder interests in the insolvency sphere, which can result in creditors’ interests prevailing over those of spouses/children and ousting statutory protections that would otherwise be in place, save in limited circumstances. Finally, the article takes a deep-dive into recent authorities on the equity of exoneration. 

Read the full piece in Family Law Journal here.