Chambers News
Conduct in financial remedy cases: does it have to have a measurable financial consequence?
05 May 2026Mr Justice Peel said in N v J that conduct must have an identifiable financial consequence to be taken into account. But the statute itself - section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act - simply says conduct that would be inequitable to disregard. No mention of financial consequence.
So where does that leave cases involving domestic abuse and coercive control, where the impact is real but almost impossible to quantify?
In our latest bitesize video, Mark Ablett and Max Lewis explore how the courts are navigating this tension, including Mr Justice Cusworth's approach in LP v MP, where findings of coercive control were used as a lens through which to reassess contributions in a sharing case, rather than as a standalone conduct argument.
They also consider whether relationship-generated disadvantage might find renewed relevance in domestic abuse cases, and ask whether compensation could become the route to recognising harm that conduct alone struggles to capture.
Watch the full discussion now!