A court might order a spouse in Financial Remedy Proceedings to pay a lump sum to the other spouse by instalments. This might happen in circumstances when the lump sum is an extremely high amount and it would not be possible for it to be paid in one go, potentially due to cash flow issues.

However, any person due to receive a series of lump sums by instalments, should be made aware that the paying spouse can apply to court to vary the lump sums in the future (prior to them being paid).

The court will consider the request to vary the original order if the circumstances of the person applying for the variation have changed so significantly that it would be unjust to hold the payer to the terms of the original order.

This means that if they are no longer able to afford the lump sum instalments due to a significant change of circumstances, despite only paying the first few instalments, the court do have the power to vary the order.  The court could vary the original order or discharge it altogether.

The court however would not do this lightly and would do a full investigation into the change of circumstances and analyse what the payer is able to afford. There would need to be full financial disclosure to support the payer’s application to vary the order.

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Alternatively, you can call 01902 328 355 and speak to Aimee Stokes, who is a family law solicitor based in our Wolverhampton office.