Significant increase in big money Divorce and Judicial Separation cases in the High Court year on year and doubling of these cases in past 5 years

write Keith Walsh Solicitor SC and Aidan Reynolds Solicitor 

There was a 35 ½ % increase in applications for Divorce and Judicial Separations before the High Court in 2023 with numbers increasing from 71 cases in 2022 to 91 in 2023. In 2023 applications reached the same level as the early 2000s when it was much easier to bring these cases to the High Court due to a lower level of wealth required.

There has almost been a doubling in applications for big money Divorce and Judicial Separation cases from 46 in 2019 to 91 in 2023.  

In order to qualify to bring an application for Divorce or Judicial Separation in the High Court, there must be assets of at least €3 million. This means the High Court is reserved for big money cases while all other Divorce and Judicial Separation cases take place in the Circuit Court which sit around the country.

Numbers of applications for the more regular Divorce and Judicial Separation cases  fell for the second year in a row to 5,694, down by 4.5 % from 5,966 applications in 2022 and a drop of over 10 % since the highest year on record for applications for Judicial Separation and Divorce in the Circuit Court, 2021 -6,338 applications.

This reduction  in regular Divorce and Judicial Separation cases further emphasises the increase in the “big money” or high net worth Divorce and Judicial Separation cases.

Applications for Divorce increased significantly after the law was changed to reduce the time required for spouses to live apart prior to initiating applications for Divorce from 4 years to 2 years on 1^st December 2019. Since then the number of Divorces have increased by far more than the number of applications for Judicial Separations have decreased. Another factor in the increased numbers of applications for Divorce is the Covid pandemic.  

The almost doubling of the number of these bigger money cases is likely to arise from:

1. The recovery of asset value and property prices in particular in the past number of years
2. A greater number of families who have assets over €3 million
3. An increase in the creation of other classes of wealth whether by entrepreneurship or the earning of shares as part of overall annual remuneration packages leading to greater wealth than previously.
4. Anecdotally there is a proportionate reduction in professionals who previously may have been included in this cohort as they have been overtaken by those whose wealth was created in the financial, technology, property or other industries.