Family proceedings measured in months or years cannot leave a family unprotected in the meantime. The interim jurisdiction exists to hold the position: income flowing, assets preserved, a roof secured, safety protected, while the substantive case is prepared. Knowing what can be obtained quickly changes the balance of a case from its first week.
Money and assets
Maintenance pending suit provides interim support for a dependent spouse and children, assessed on the visible resources before full disclosure has run its course. On the asset side, section 35 of the Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act 1989 and section 37 of the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996 allow the court to restrain dispositions intended to defeat relief and to set aside transactions already made, and injunctive relief can preserve specific assets, land about to be transferred, accounts about to be emptied, in urgent cases. Speed matters: relief is easier to obtain before money moves than after.
The home and safety
Orders regulating occupation of the family home can give a spouse and children secure possession while proceedings run. Where safety is in issue, the Domestic Violence Act 2018 provides safety orders, barring orders and, in urgency, interim barring and emergency barring orders, on their own timetable independent of any divorce. Nothing in a financial case ever takes priority over protection, and a solicitor's first assessment in any separation includes it.
Interim applications also set the litigation's tone. Figures run at the interim stage, on income, on the value of resources, follow the parties to trial, and positions taken carelessly early are expensive to abandon later. The interim phase deserves the same rigour as the final one.
This article is general information, not legal advice. For the full practice area, see Divorce in Ireland, or contact the practice to discuss a matter in confidence.