If you have been married to someone you have the right to make a financial claim against them if you separate and divorce.  There is no time limit – you can make a financial claim many years after the separation, and such cases are not that uncommon.

There are only two things that stop a person being allowed to make a financial claim against a former spouse: if the person making the claim has remarried, or if the court has made an order forbidding any such financial claims in the future.  Such an order is known as a ‘clean break’ order and is usually made by consent.

However straightforward your divorce you should think carefully about getting a clean break order.  Without one, you are vulnerable to a claim in the future if your former spouse has not remarried.  If you win the lottery you don’t presumably want to share your winnings with the person you were married to a few years ago.

It works both ways, of course.  If you get a clean break order you are deliberately preventing yourself from making a claim should the need or opportunity arise.

Just give it some careful thought…..