Property adjustment orders

General principles

Section 24 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) defines the court’s powers to make a property adjustment order in favour of a party to the marriage or to (or for the benefit of) any child of the family on the making of an order/decree of divorce, nullity or judicial separation. There are corresponding provisions in the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA 2004). The order will not take effect until after the making of a final order/decree absolute (in divorce, nullity or dissolution) or the making of an order/decree of (judicial) separation. See Practice Note: Property adjustment orders—general principles including sections on: Orders that may be made by the court, Property adjustment orders for the benefit of children and Interim orders.

There is no definition of property in respect of which jurisdiction may be exercised. So long as the property is sufficiently identifiable to be specified in the order, it may be subject to a property adjustment order. The available types of property adjustment order include:

•
a transfer of property
•
a settlement of property
•
a variation

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