The De Niro defence: Couples follow star’s example in bid to cut alimony in Covid-hit times

Divorced couples are trying to renegotiate maintenance payments because of a downturn in earnings, according to family lawyers.

The coronavirus pandemic has cut incomes and disrupted or even dissolved businesses. And family lawyers say these unprecedented circumstances should mean that maintenance settlements be renegotiated by judges.

This comes after Robert De Niro’s attorneys claimed that the pandemic has had a significant impact on his earnings.

The 76-year-old Hollywood actor disputes the terms of his divorce from Grace Hightower, 65. The couple confirmed their separation in November 2018 after 21 years together and now De Niro is seeking to prevent his estranged wife from accessing more of his $500 million fortune.

An emergency hearing, held over Skype, was called after De Niro halved Hightower’s monthly American Express credit card limit, down to $50,000.

Caroline Krauss, his attorney, told a judge that he had been forced to reduce her allowance because his businesses and career were suffering as a result the pandemic.

Family lawyers in the UK say similar claims are being heard on both sides of the Atlantic.

Cara Nuttall, a lawyer specialising in family law at JMW solicitors, said she had seen a significant increase in people looking to either decrease their maintenance payments, or try to prevent the paying party from doing so.

She said: “It is inevitable that when so many people are on reduced income, and/or facing redundancy, their first thought is how to manage their outgoings.

“We have seen a significant upturn in clients looking to understand what their options are to stop or reduce their payments now their income has dropped, as well as from clients who have been told their ex can no longer afford to pay them, which will leave them short.

“Some accept completely that circumstances have changed and that a temporary solution will have to be found, but others simply do not believe their ex-partner’s income has dropped to the extent claimed, and believe the current financial downturn is being used opportunistically to try to reduce payments they never really wanted to make. Inevitably there will be cases where this is true, but of course many households across the country are genuinely having to make significant cutbacks and for whom the same level of maintenance is simply no longer affordable.”

Ms Nuttall said “there is no hard and fast rule as to whether maintenance can or should be reduced in times like this”, with each case being fact-specific.

“The court will not take as a given that maintenance should be reduced just because times are bad, and anyone looking to change their obligations will have to be able to prove what they are saying.

“We expect the trend to continue as the furlough scheme comes to an end and businesses make hard decisions about whether or not staff can be retained in the longer term.”

Jo Edwards, a lawyer who is head of family at Forsters LLP, said: “As with during the global economic crisis of 2007/2008, Covid-19 and the resulting economic meltdown has seen many payers of spousal maintenance – both men and women – reaching out to their lawyers to say that obligations they have signed up to are no longer affordable (and doubtless many more contacting their ex-spouses direct).

“In my practice we have had a lot of enquiries from people wanting to revisit maintenance orders in recent weeks and we expect that to continue, especially once the furlough scheme ends and many find themselves, sadly, made redundant.

“The steps that someone in that position should take really depend on how long they are likely to have a significantly reduced income for.

“If the reality is that, within a matter of months, they will be back on their feet, the court is unlikely to make substantive changes to their spousal maintenance obligations.”