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Recent divorce case could spell the end to helping yourself to documentation

When a husband and wife get divorced there are often very real concerns that one of the spouses will try and conceal their wealth in order to deprive the other of assets. Until very recently it has been acceptable, under what is commonly known as the "Hildebrand rules" for a spouse to obtain documentation belonging to the other. This is provided that no force is used; only copies rather than the originals are retained and the copies are disclosed when a questionnaire is served, or earlier if requested. 

Following the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of 'Imerman' this is no longer acceptable. In this case the wife's brothers accessed and copied confidential information from the husband's computer. This documentation (a total of seven lever arch files) was then passed to the wife and her solicitors to assist in her claim for financial relief from her husband within their divorce proceedings. Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger ordered that the copy documents must be returned to the husband's solicitors and should never have been taken in the first place. The wife and her solicitors were not allowed to retain copies and were not entitled, for the time being, to use any of the information they had gleaned from the documentation.

Following this ruling TLT's associate in the family team, Nicky Howarth, comments:

"For years husbands and wives have relied on self-help remedies such as copying bank statements and other important documentation which they find lying around. Solicitors have advised that such action is acceptable provided it complies with the so-called Hildebrand rules. The decision in Imerman marks a significant change in the courts attitude. It is no longer acceptable to obtain copies of a spouse's documentation and if a client does this you must advise them to return the documentation, and any copies, immediately. The Court of Appeal said if there is a real concern that assets are being hidden, an application for either a freezing (Mareva) or a search (Anton Piller) order should be made rather than clients resorting to self-help. While such orders can be applied for, they are often difficult to obtain and very expensive. At TLT we are often presented with "Hildebrand" documentation that can prove very useful and indeed vital in proving that there is hidden wealth. Financially weaker spouses who rely on self help to get to the bottom of their spouses wealth, will be left more vulnerable as a result of the decision in Imerman. Leave to appeal to the Supreme Court has been refused, so for now Imerman marks a virtual end to self help."