Imerman – A Cheat’s Charter?

In July 2010, the Court of Appeal gave it's decision in the conjoined appeals of Tchenguiz v Imerman; Imerman v Imerman [2010] EWCA Civ 908 which removed the right of one spouse to rely on the other spouse's confidential material in the context of divorce proceedings and in so doing, radically altered the practice of disclosure that had developed in the Family division over the last two decades.  

Mr Imerman shared offices with his wife's brother.  On the breakdown of the marriage in late 2008, fearing his brother-in-law would conceal his true worth in the context of the divorce, Mr Tchenguiz accessed and made copies of documents from a shared computer server.  Some of the accessed documents were printed and, after being checked for privileged material, were sent (in seven files) to the wife's solicitors (Withers LLP), whom in turn disclosed the seven files to the husband's solicitors in the divorce proceedings in accordance with what had become known as the