Failure to Disclose Financial Information in Divorce in the UK

Failure to disclose financial information in divorce financial proceedings carries consequences.

In this article, our North West specialist divorce solicitors explain what dishonest financial disclosure is and what you can do about it.

Contact our specialist family lawyers for a consultation on your financial settlement.

Dishonest financial disclosure in divorce proceedings

Sometimes, when a divorce financial settlement solicitor explains the duty on both spouses to provide full and frank financial disclosure, they are greeted with laughter. Some divorcing spouses know their partners and realise that honesty and fairness are not part of their vocabulary.

If you suspect your spouse will be dishonest, it’s best to be upfront about it. That’s because dishonesty suspicions will affect your family lawyer’s approach on how best to reach a financial settlement and the type of financial court order they negotiate or ask the court to make.

Not everyone is dishonest

Most divorcing couples know all about each other’s income, savings, and property. If you are in that position, there is no need to authorise extra costs being spent, as your divorce solicitors will not find assets that don’t exist. Instead, the focus should be negotiating a financial court order that meets your needs and minimises legal costs.

Dishonest spouses

A husband or wife can be dishonest about some aspects of their lives but not others. You are probably the best person to know if your husband or wife hasn’t been honest about relationships, but is likely to have been upfront about money matters. Alternatively, you may suspect that your spouse has been planning to leave you for a while and is managing their financial affairs, so you won’t get the financial settlement you are entitled to.

If you think your husband or wife won’t provide full and frank financial disclosure, then discussing this with your finance solicitor is best. They will then decide what additional information should be requested and what follow-up questions may need to be asked.

If you have a strong suspicion of dishonesty but no concrete proof or ‘smoking gun,’ then don’t worry. Divorce lawyers are experienced in ensuring all assets are disclosed and accurately valued before reaching a financial settlement or before the final hearing of a financial settlement application.

Types of dishonesty in financial proceedings

Dishonesty comes in different forms:

1. Not disclosing assets or property.
2. Not revealing material information.
3. Not providing an accurate valuation.

Here are some examples of dishonesty in financial settlement negotiations and court proceedings:

1. Not disclosing a property purchased after separation in the Form E, as the spouse did not consider it relevant.
2. Mentioning the ownership of 1,000 shares in a listed company but failing to mention their other 10,000 shares.
3. They did not explain that they had received an offer on the business or other assets.
4. Not providing information about a bank account or legacy received but kept separate from a spouse.

A spouse must provide full financial disclosure. In financial proceedings, the divorce lawyers and the court then determine the relevance of the asset and its value. For example, the court may conclude that an asset purchased after the separation or a legacy received after the divorce is not a family asset. However, full financial disclosure is a requirement because, in some cases, the court will either conclude that an asset is matrimonial property that should be shared or decide that, although it is non-matrimonial property, it should still be shared because of a spouse’s needs.

Why do you think your spouse is dishonest?

Sometimes you know your spouse will be dishonest in financial disclosure, as they haven’t been honest in financial dealings with third parties over your marriage, and you think dishonesty is just part of their genetic make-up. In other situations, you may have been warned about the dishonesty by your spouse’s business partner or a family friend.

It is essential to understand why you think your husband or wife is being financially dishonest as you don’t want divorce financial settlement solicitors to explore and analyse your spouse’s bank statements or business accounts or ask additional questions about their financial affairs if your views on their honesty is being clouded by your upset about your spouse walking out of the marriage or any of the many other things that a husband or wife can do to aggravate an already difficult and emotional time.

Tackling dishonest financial disclosure

When you split up, you are entitled to a fair financial settlement. What’s ‘fair’ depends on your personal and financial circumstances. However, you can’t reach a financial settlement unless you know the full extent of the family and non-family assets in your joint and sole names.

If your spouse won’t voluntarily give full and frank financial disclosure, you must start financial proceedings. During the financial case, your husband or wife will need to give honest and full information when:

1. Completing the standard Form E financial disclosure document and providing supporting paperwork.
2. Answering questionnaires about their finances and disclosing additional documents as ordered by the court.
3. Speaking to a single joint expert, such as a forensic accountant appointed by the court to value the family business.
4. Giving evidence at the financial court hearing.

Remedies if a spouse doesn’t comply with disclosure orders during financial court proceedings

If your husband or wife does not comply with financial disclosure orders during financial court proceedings, you can ask the court to:

1. Enforce the disclosure order.
2. Draw inferences because of a failure to comply with the disclosure order or incomplete provision of information.
3. Structure the award to account for the spouse’s conduct during the financial proceedings.
4. Make a cost order.

An example of drawing inferences is where financial disclosure reveals drawings from the business of £80,000 gross per year, but documented expenditure on mortgages, cars, and holidays shows outgoings of at least £110,000 per annum. If there is no corresponding debt or use of savings to meet the income shortfall or other reasonable explanation, other than cash syphoning, your finance lawyer could ask the court to draw inferences that your spouse is being dishonest about their income level from their business and its profitability.

Discovering dishonest financial disclosure after a financial court order

Sometimes, you don’t know that the person you loved and trusted has been dishonest with their financial disclosure until after you have agreed on a financial consent order or the court has made an order after contested court proceedings. Even if you discover dishonest behaviour after the event, it may not be too late to act. Divorce solicitors issue a warning, though – it is easier and cheaper to show dishonesty before a financial order is made, as there are no guarantees that you can reopen a financial court order.

If you can show there was dishonest financial disclosure, the court has the power to set aside the financial court order it made.

Leading court cases on fraud and dishonesty in financial proceedings

Divorce solicitors emphasise the importance of full and frank financial disclosure citing the Supreme Court cases of two ex-wives, Mrs Sharland and Mrs Gohil, who took their cases to the Supreme Court to try to win justice on the basis that their former husbands had deliberately misled them and the court about the true extent of their wealth.

In Sharland v Sharland [2015] UKSC 60 (14 October 2015), Mrs Sharland and her husband had agreed on a financial settlement. Their divorce lawyers drafted a court order that the judge approved. After the order was approved, Mrs Sharland read in the financial press that her husband’s shareholding in his IT company was worth more than he told the court.

In Gohil v Gohil [2015] UKSC 61 (14 October 2015), Mrs Gohil agreed to her divorce financial settlement based on information her husband disclosed: a modest income and no assets. However, Mrs Gohil started a battle to overturn the divorce settlement after it became apparent to her that her husband’s disclosed assets and income could not support his lifestyle. The husband was later convicted of fraud and money laundering. The evidence in criminal proceedings enabled Mrs Gohil to pursue her claim.

In the cases of Mrs Sharland and Mrs Gohil, the Supreme Court ruled that if a husband or a wife in divorce proceedings intentionally keeps financial information from the court, then the court will presume that a different financial order would have been made if the hidden evidence had been made available at the time.

Deliberately misleading the court can, therefore, invalidate a financial settlement. That means the financial court order can be changed. Accordingly, being dishonest means uncertainty and extra costs for the dishonest spouse, plus the real possibility of the court making a more generous financial settlement to their spouse.

The penalties for dishonesty in financial proceedings

The 2025 court case of VTY v GDB [2025] EWFC 110 (B) (24 April 2025) highlights the penalties of failing to provide full financial disclosure in court proceedings.

The judge tasked with deciding how the couple’s assets should be split said ‘’On occasions too frequent for the court to do justice to here, the husband has been demonstrated not to be telling the truth. The husband, bluntly, cannot be believed. His disclosure and litigation conduct has been appalling and has been designed to confuse and obfuscate. He is thoroughly and determinedly dishonest.’’

Financial disclosure was described as woeful and messy. The wife was awarded around 1.2 million in assets, and the husband, around £483,000. The judge said he was giving the wife a greater share of the assets rather than ordering the husband to pay the wife spousal maintenance because of the husband’s behaviour. The husband was also ordered to pay over £54,000 in costs to the wife.

Suspicions of dishonesty and financial disclosure

If you are suspicious about financial disclosure and believe your husband or wife is dishonest, don’t negotiate a financial settlement thinking that you can change it later—you may not be able to do so, or the costs and timescales may be a deterrent.

If you are concerned that the figures don’t add up or your spouse is doing some of the classic concerning actions (such as transferring assets to friends or family or closing bank accounts or telling you that the family business is at risk of going under but the order book seems as strong as ever) then speak to an expert divorce solicitor so you can understand your options and achieve a fair financial settlement.

Contact our specialist family lawyers for a consultation on your financial settlement.