Helen Brander TEP, MCiArb

Helen provides advice and representation in all aspects of matrimonial and family finance disputes.  She often deals with matters involving complex company structures, non-matrimonial property, pre- and post-nuptial agreements (including extra-jurisdictional arrangements), on- and off-shore trusts and complex pension arrangements.  She has significant experience in applications for a financial remedy following a foreign divorce.

Helen is able to assist in cases involving cohabitation, relationship breakdown, and financial claims for provision for children under Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989.

Helen has a particular interest in family work with a chancery slant and acts in matters involving implied and express trusts under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 and disputes concerning issues of proprietary estoppel.

Selected Cases

P v P

Acting for the applicant in a complex financial remedy case involving the diversion of over £1m of matrimonial assets into cryptocurrency and where the “holder” claimed to have lost them all trading in futures. Issues concerned tracing the assets and attempting to seize control, or otherwise set off against other assets.

X v X

Advising how to obtain disclosure from crypto-platforms in the background of a financial remedy case in which an initial coin offering of an apparently worthless e-coin had become the focus, but where, in fact, some major assets had been liquidated and turned into crypto-currency which had been “lost”.

K v K

Helen acts for the abused party in a long-running matter in which serious findings of domestic abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour have been made. The issue in the financial remedies concerns how the findings and the ongoing abuse by the perpetrator should be reflected in the financial remedy division.

S v S

Advising and acting for the respondent in proceedings for financial provision. The respondent following an abusive marriage had been stranded in a foreign country in which the legal responsibility for debts incurred by each party was borne joint and severally by the other, so that the applicant, having left the jurisdiction and then issued financial remedy proceedings, left the respondent and their child with no income, no pension provision and responsibility for their significant debts. Helen obtained for her client ongoing maintenance for joint lives, lump sums from future bonuses, 100% of the equity in the former matrimonial home, and a pension sharing order.

• Advised and acted for a party who wished to pursue the financial consequences of their English divorce in Italy and vice versa.

C v C

Acting for the applicant in a complex financial remedy “big money” application in which the matrimonial “seed monies” derive from a third party and in which there are disputes concerning interests in complex company structures, the extent of the financial resources available to the couple, and the existence or otherwise and intended use of financial instruments.

S v S

Acting for the respondent in a financial remedy application where the applicant’s capacity to litigate fluctuates and where there are allegations of fraudulent behaviour regarding pension assets by that applicant.

H v M

Acting for the applicant in a “big money” case involving off-shore family trusts where the value of the assets available to the parties was in dispute. The matter settled before a High Court Judge after the respondent accepted the applicant should have sufficient funds to be able to purchase a reasonable home and retain a number of the parties’ investment properties.

A v W

Acting for the applicant in a Schedule 1 Children Act application where the respondent dispensed with the services of his legal representative following the making of a legal services provision order. The respondent owned numerous properties, both in his sole name and through two company vehicles. The matter settled at a financial dispute resolution appointment after the respondent agreed to sell all his solely-owned properties (including his home) in order to provide funds for the applicant to purchase a home for the parties’ children in which home she would retain an interest.

E v E

Acting for the respondent in the Family Division of the High Court in an application for financial provision after foreign divorce. The application was found by the High Court Judge to have been utterly without merit and a costs order was made against the applicant in favour of Helen’s client.

D v L

Acting for the respondent in a contested divorce and financial remedy application in which the issue initially concerned the date of separation of the parties (the relevance being whether the assets available for division were matrimonial or non-matrimonial in nature) but later became an application for a decree of nullity arising from the respondent’s (contested) bigamy discovered during the course of proceedings. Helen obtained a decree of nullity in her client’s favour and a much-reduced sum was granted to the respondent as a result of his behaviour.

S v H

Acting for the respondent in a Schedule 1 Children Act application wherein the applicant sought to displace the respondent from his home. Helen negotiated a settlement permitting the applicant to borrow monies from the respondent to purchase a share of a property suitable for herself and the children, which monies were protected by a trust structure.

M v M

Acting for the respondent in a “medium-money” case in which the dispute concerned whether the family’s assets had been significant depleted as a result of the financial crash on a foreign-monies mortgage, and whether the respondent had interests in a number of sports cars. Helen successfully obtained findings in her client’s favour at trial.

Re K

Acting for the applicant in a financial remedy case involving property held overseas and issues involving ownership / control of embryos conceived through IVF.

Helen has extensive experience of acting for parties in contested divorce applications and applications for decrees of nullity on the basis of a void or voidable marriage.