fbpx

Divorce – Home-Maker Wife Compensated for Sacrificing Her Career

4th August 2020 By

Despite the drive towards achieving economic equality between the sexes, it remains common for women to give up their promising careers to support their husbands and devote themselves to child rearing and home-making. An important High Court ruling addressed the burning issue of how such sacrifices should be quantified in money terms in the event of divorce.

The case concerned a former couple who met when they were both working for a leading law firm. After their relationship blossomed, they decided that it would be inappropriate for them to continue working together. He remained at the firm, becoming a very highly paid equity partner, whereas she took an in-house position at a bank, which yielded earnings that were a fraction of his and from which she was later made redundant.

Following their marriage, she took on the role of a home-maker and full-time mother to their two children. Having suffered mental and physical health difficulties, she had not worked for some years before the 11-year marriage broke down. Their marital home was worth more than £5.8 million and, by the time of their divorce, their total assets were valued at over £9.7 million.

Ruling on the financial aspects of the divorce, the Court noted that both husband and wife broadly agreed that their assets should be divided equally. The principal area of controversy between them was whether the wife should in addition be compensated for the detrimental impact that the marriage had on her legal career.

The Court found that she was clearly a talented and driven lawyer and that, had she stayed at the firm, she would have stood a very good chance of becoming an equity partner, earning sums equivalent to those paid to the husband. Viewing herself as the parent with primary responsibility for the children, she treated her husband’s career as taking precedence over her own. Given her health problems, her continuing childcare responsibilities and the length of time since she had last worked, she had no residual earning capacity.

An equal division of assets would have led to the husband and wife each receiving about £4.85 million. The Court, however, awarded the wife an extra £400,000 to reflect the negative impact that the relationship had on her career and earnings. Her total award of £5,252,415 represented about 54 per cent of the overall marital assets. The Court noted that the facts of the case were exceptional and that its ruling should not be viewed as a green light for others to seek compensation for financial disadvantages arising from their marriages.

Source: Concious

Latest News

Tenants Can Purchase Freehold When Landlord Cannot Be Found

11th June, 2024 By

The Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 gives qualifying leaseholders the right to join together to buy the freehold of their properties – a process known as collective enfranchisement. A recent case demonstrated that this right can be exercised even when the landlord cannot be found. The leaseholders of two flats in a terraced house wished to purchase it from the landlord, but were unable to ascertain his whereabouts and therefore could not serve notice on him under Section 13 of the Act. They therefore applied for an...

Court Refuses to Set Aside Divorce Order Applied for by Mistake

6th June, 2024 By

While the courts have a range of powers to set aside orders, they will only exercise them in limited circumstances. In a somewhat surprising case that has attracted much comment, the High Court declined to set aside a final order of divorce that had been applied for by mistake. A couple separated in January 2023, after more than 21 years of marriage. In October that year, while financial remedy proceedings were still ongoing, the wife's legal representatives inadvertently applied for a final order of divorce in respect of her instead...

Waiting Time for Grants of Probate Falls

3rd June, 2024 By

Following concerns last year about delays in processing probate applications, recent figures from HM Courts and Tribunals Service show that waiting times for grants of probate are continuing to improve. The average time from submission of a probate application to probate being granted fell to 11.3 weeks in March 2024, a decrease from 13.7 weeks in February and 13.8 weeks in January. This is the lowest figure since March 2023, when the average was 10.8 weeks. The longest waiting time since then was in November, at 15.8 weeks: that month,...

Late Appeal Against Tax Penalties Rejected

31st May, 2024 By

It is incumbent on taxpayers to make sure they fully comply with their obligations to file returns and pay any tax due. The point was illustrated by a recent case in which a taxpayer whose return had not been received by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) failed to persuade the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) that he should be permitted to appeal against the resulting penalties. On the evening of 31 January 2014, the man had completed his 2012/13 Income Tax return on HMRC's website. Shortly afterwards he went to Cyprus, and...