In English law, an application for financial relief following the presentation of a petition for divorce

Divorce

Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

, nullity

Nullity

Nullity may refer to:* Nullity , a legal declaration that no marriage had ever come into being* Nullity, the dimension of the null space of a mathematical operator or matrix...

 or judicial separation is described as ancillary relief. The term arises because the financial application is 'ancillary' to the petition.

Explanation

The courts powers derive in large part from the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, and in particular section 25(2) which sets out the statutory checklist of factors that should be taken into account. The court can order lump sum payments, property adjustment orders (e.g. requiring a property is transferred into the ownership of a husband or wife), periodical payments (known as 'maintenance') and (from 2000) pension sharing orders.

Maintenance orders can be given on nominal or specific terms. Nominal orders operate on the basis that if the court makes no order for maintenance (known as "periodical payments") at the time of the final order, it cannot later come back and make an order. If, on the other hand, it makes an order, it can later vary it. This is why an order for periodical payments at the rate of 5 pence per year (the usual nominal order) is known as a nominal order - it gives the recipient the right to come back and make an application for a substantive monthly sum at a later date.

Following a 1984 amendment, the court is obliged to consider whether the parties' financial relationship should be terminated ('clean break').

Legal rulings

The leading cases are now the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

 decisions of White v White 2001

White v White 2001

-Overview:The House of Lords decision in White v White 2000 is a landmark case in redistribution of finances as well as property on divorce. This case involved a couple with assets exceeding £4.5m which was more than either needs for their reasonable requirements...

 1 A.C. 596' and Miller/ McFarlane.