Domestic abuse — and coercive control in particular — leaves deep, lasting scars. Yet in financial remedy proceedings, the threshold for proving misconduct remains so high that most victims never meet it. Case law has evolved away from the statute’s wording, and the courts’ reluctance to “rummage through the attic” of the marriage has become almost a mantra.

But our understanding of coercive control has transformed. We now recognise its tactics, its cumulative damage, and the way it can shape every aspect of a victim’s financial position.

So the real question is this: now that we finally see the harm clearly, isn’t it time the financial remedies court recalibrated its approach — and stopped treating abuse as legally invisible? Sarah Ellis is joined by barristers Samantha Hillas KC and Anita Mehta and solicitor, Olivia Piercy to discus ...