Coercive Financial Control, Economic Abuse, Coercive Debt and Resulting Human Rights Violations

CAUSAL CHAIN AND LEGAL BASIS

Coercive Financial Control, Economic Abuse, Coercive Debt and Resulting Human Rights Violations

Coercive financial control, economic abuse and coercive debt are recognised forms of domestic abuse and must be understood as part of a continuing pattern of coercive conduct rather than isolated financial events. Where one party deliberately restricts access to financial resources, conceals assets, withholds support, obstructs earning capacity, impairs financial independence, or creates economic dependency, the resulting financial harm may be a foreseeable consequence of abuse rather than personal choice.

Section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 criminalises controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship where repeated or continuous conduct has a serious effect on the victim and the perpetrator knows or ought to know that the conduct will have that effect.

Section 1 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 expressly recognises economic abuse as a form of domestic abuse. Economic abuse includes conduct that substantially affects a person's ability to acquire, use or maintain money, property, goods, services, housing, financial security, or economic independence.

The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 requires full and frank disclosure of financial circumstances. Under section 25, the court must consider all the circumstances of the case, including the parties' resources, needs, obligations, contributions, conduct where relevant, and any financial disadvantage arising during the relationship.

The Fraud Act 2006 may be engaged where a person dishonestly makes a false representation, fails to disclose information where there is a legal duty to disclose, or abuses a position in order to obtain gain or cause loss or risk of loss to another.

Coercive debt may arise in several forms. It may include debt incurred without the victim's knowledge or consent. It may also include debt entered into voluntarily in form but involuntarily in substance, where borrowing became necessary because financial support was withheld, assets were concealed, income was obstructed, or the victim was left without realistic alternatives for maintaining housing, subsistence, legal participation, or personal security.

In such circumstances, the debt itself may constitute evidence of coercion and financial deprivation rather than evidence of financial irresponsibility.

The consequences of such conduct engage fundamental rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights.

Article 8 protects personal autonomy, dignity, identity, psychological integrity, home, and family life.

Article 1 of Protocol 1 protects the peaceful enjoyment of possessions and property rights.

Article 6 protects the right to a fair hearing, including equality of arms, procedural fairness, and effective participation.

Article 3 may be engaged where the cumulative effect of abuse, deprivation, homelessness, humiliation, insecurity, or severe psychological harm reaches the threshold of inhuman or degrading treatment.

The causal chain may therefore be summarised as follows:

Coercive financial control and economic abuse → restriction of access to resources, income, assets, housing, or support → financial dependency and deprivation → borrowing, arrears, coercive debt, or financial instability → impairment of financial autonomy and security → reduced ability to obtain legal representation, expert evidence, housing stability, or effective participation → inequality of arms within proceedings → failure to secure effective protection or remedy → continuing financial loss, housing insecurity, psychological harm, and degradation of personal welfare.

Where non-disclosure, concealment of assets, misleading financial information, or other unlawful conduct is established, the resulting harm may be amplified through the continuation of proceedings conducted on an inaccurate factual foundation.

Legal representatives owe professional duties to the court, to the administration of justice, and to the rule of law. Where concerns arise regarding disclosure, vulnerability, participation, safeguarding, or procedural fairness, those matters require careful consideration in accordance with professional obligations and applicable regulatory standards. The existence and extent of any professional misconduct is ultimately a matter for evidential determination by the appropriate court or regulatory body.

The court's role extends beyond the mechanical administration of financial remedy proceedings. It must consider whether apparent financial failure, indebtedness, housing loss, or litigation disadvantage represent independent choices or whether they are the foreseeable consequences of coercive control, economic abuse, non-disclosure, vulnerability, and unequal access to justice.

Failure to identify that causal relationship risks treating the consequences of abuse as though they were the fault of the victim. In doing so, the system may inadvertently convert coercion into debt, deprivation into liability, and vulnerability into disadvantage.

The financial collapse, coercive debt, housing insecurity, homelessness, participation impairment, and resulting psychological harm relied upon in this claim are not isolated events. They are pleaded as connected and foreseeable consequences arising from a continuous chain of conduct, omission, non-disclosure, procedural disadvantage, and failure to provide effective protection and remedy.

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