Can my ex claim money from my new partner?

It is a common question in divorce: “Can my ex claim money from my new partner?” Or: “Can my new partner’s ex claim against me?” It seems to be a fear for most spouses going through the divorce process who are cohabiting, or thinking about cohabiting, with a new partner. When I receive questions like this, I always think: this time I will give a really short, clear answer. But just like my efforts at colouring in when younger, I end up going over the lines. So it is with my blog posts about English family law.

And so to the virtual postbag. This is the question, posed by C:

“I would like to know that if my new partner and I got together (living or married) could his ex-wife claim on my monthly wage? Plus I own my house outright would she have any claim on that? Thank you.”

Each case turns on its own facts. This is what lawyers say all the time to just about every enquiry that comes in their direction. Put another way, it is essential to know the facts of a given situation if any advice is to be given in a legal context. To say anything useful in response to C’s question I will need to colour outside the lines. And I have written before about the status of co-habitees in family law. Now, as every regular reader of my blog will know, I do not, ever, give out advice. I can only make observations or prompt further questions for my readers to consider.

A note on no-fault divorce: Since April 2022, when the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 came into force, couples in England and Wales can divorce without assigning blame or waiting for a period of separation. The process is simpler and can now be completed online without legal advice. While this is broadly a positive development, it has an important consequence for the issues discussed in this article: it has become easier to obtain a divorce without also resolving the financial settlement. If you divorce without a court order formally dealing with the finances, financial claims between you and your former spouse remain open — potentially indefinitely. The simplified no-fault process has, if anything, increased the risk that divorcing couples leave financial matters unresolved. The points below are therefore more important to understand now than they were when this article was first written.

Can my ex claim money from my new partner?

So, in answer to C’s question, I can make the following points:

• Since it is your house, your new partner’s ex cannot make any claim against your property. Full stop.
• I presume that your reference to your new partner’s ex-wife means that he has obtained a divorce and a financial settlement. If he has NOT finalised his divorce and financial settlement, and you move in together, he must disclose that fact to his solicitors. If he does not have solicitors, then he must disclose that fact to his wife or her solicitors. This is called the duty of disclosure.
• If the divorce and financial settlement have not been sorted out yet, and you move in together then his ex’s solicitors may say that you represent a resource to your partner. The fact that you are housing him means that he may not need as much of the equity in his matrimonial home as his ex-wife. If your partner has children from his marriage and they are predominantly going to live with his ex-wife then she may say their housing needs should be added to her own housing needs so she should have more of the equity. And anyway, her lawyers may say, since you are helping your partner to address his housing needs, the ex-wife can now have more of the equity since he does not have as great a need.
• If the divorce and financial settlement have not been sorted, and the ex-wife wants spousal maintenance then she will say the fact that you are living together means that you are sharing your living expenses so perhaps this frees up a bit more income for spousal maintenance. But she cannot claim against your monthly income. That is your money – not your partner’s nor his ex-wife’s.
• But, if the divorce and financial settlement have been sorted then the impact of you living together is more limited. There should be a final court order dealing with the matrimonial finances. The key thing is whether the ex-wife has an order for spousal maintenance. If she does, then she may argue that moving in with you means that your partner is sharing his living costs with you so he can afford to pay his ex a bit more. The ex-wife may therefore make an application to vary her spousal maintenance upwards.
• An important distinction: remarriage of the recipient automatically brings spousal maintenance to an end. Cohabitation does not. If your partner’s ex-wife enters a new cohabiting relationship, that will not automatically end her spousal maintenance — but it may provide grounds to apply to vary it downwards, on the basis that her financial needs are being shared with a new partner. Equally, if your partner cohabits with you, his ex-wife may seek to vary maintenance upwards on the basis that his living costs are reduced. The key point is that cohabitation triggers a review, not an automatic outcome. Both parties should be aware of the distinction.
• And C should remember to consider protecting her own position in relation to her new partner if she lets him move in. What about a cohabitation agreement between you to sort out who pays what over the course of time? Cohabitation law in England and Wales currently offers limited protection to unmarried couples, and a cohabitation agreement remains the most effective way to set out each person’s financial position and intentions. The government has indicated that reform of cohabitation law is expected to be consulted on in 2026, but until any changes come into force the existing law applies. Taking legal advice now, before moving in together, remains strongly recommended.

A word of warning: financial claims do not disappear

Since this article was first published, the Supreme Court decided the case of Wyatt v Vince [2015] UKSC 14, which serves as a stark reminder of why sorting out a financial settlement at the time of divorce matters so much. In that case, an ex-wife was permitted to bring a claim for financial provision nineteen years after the parties’ divorce — at a time when her former husband had become a multi-millionaire, having had virtually nothing at the time of the marriage. The Supreme Court confirmed that there is no time limit for making an application for financial orders following divorce in England and Wales. The case ultimately settled by consent for a lump sum payment of £300,000.

The practical message is clear: if your divorce or your partner’s divorce did not result in a court order that formally dismisses financial claims between the parties – even if both parties agreed at the time that there would be no claims – those claims may still be open. This is not just a theoretical risk. It is one that has become more acute since the introduction of no-fault divorce, which has made it easier to complete a divorce online without any legal advice, potentially leaving financial claims unresolved without either party realising it.

If you are in any doubt about whether your financial settlement has been properly concluded, or whether your new partner’s has, you should take specialist legal advice. A clean break order, approved by the court, is the only reliable way to ensure that neither party can bring future financial claims against the other.

I could go on quite a bit with these observations. The answer to “Can my ex claim money from my new partner?” is not as straightforward as it might appear. But I have almost worn down my crayons so time to pack it in.