Nicholas Yates KC and Edward Benson (instructed by Robert Hines, Faith Wylde and Poppy Jones at Vardags) represented the successful applicant wife in the recently reported case of HA v EN [2025] EWHC 2436 (Fam).
This case provides guidance as to the court’s approach when dealing with concluded Xydhias agreements where one party then seeks to vary that agreement’s terms, or introduce new supplementary conditions, as part of an alleged change in circumstances before the making of a final order. The respondent husband had sought to significantly vary the terms of the parties’ Xydhias agreement, which had been reached shortly before the listed final hearing after extensive negotiations, on grounds that the costs liabilities he had agreed to pay were higher than he expected.
The respondent husband was held to the terms of the Xydhias agreement reached which was made into a final order, subject to minor contingent variations if there was a failure of the parties’ family home to sell for the prospective sale price.
Nicholas, Edward and the team at Vardags were specifically commended by the judge for the “excellence” of their representation (paragraph 39).
