S v S
[2023] EWFC 269 (B)
MR v EF
20 June 2024
[2024] EWFC 144 (B)
Family Court
A couple got divorced after a long marriage. They argued about when they separated – the judge decided it was later than the husband claimed. The judge then split their money and belongings fairly in half, with the husband paying a large sum to the wife, and also some money towards her legal costs. The details of the case will be made public, but names will be kept secret.
Key Facts
- •Final determination of financial remedies application.
- •Key issue: date of separation (2014 per husband, 2021 per wife).
- •Husband claimed informal 2014 agreement to divide assets as at that date.
- •Wife claimed 50/50 split as separation occurred in 2021.
- •Asset difference between parties' positions exceeded £200,000.
- •Long marriage (cohabitation from 1978, marriage in 1980).
- •Wife cared for her mother in Italy from 2015 to late 2017.
- •Husband had a relationship with another woman in 2018/2019.
- •Divorce petition issued in November 2021.
- •Husband made a loan to his daughter and claimed further money for renovations, both disputed.
- •Husband claimed parties presented as a couple to "keep up appearances" after 2014.
- •Wife purchased a Jaguar car in 2018, post-alleged separation date.
- •Husband purchased an Italian life insurance policy in January 2022.
Legal Principles
Burden of proof rests on the party asserting a fact; balance of probabilities standard.
General principles of civil litigation
Sections 25(1), (2) and 25A of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 govern the distribution of assets.
Matrimonial Causes Act 1973
Two-stage exercise in determining financial remedies: computation and distribution.
Charman v Charman (No 4)
Fairness is the objective; no discrimination between husband and wife.
White v White
Three principles: needs, compensation, sharing (compensation rare).
Miller; McFarlane
Needs principle generally prevails over sharing principle.
Charman v Charman (No 4)
Equal division of marital assets; non-marital assets usually retained.
Scatliffe v Scatliffe
Date for computing assets is usually the date of trial, unless undue delay.
DR v UG; E v L; A v M
Outcomes
Date of separation determined as 2021.
Wife's evidence was preferred; husband's evidence regarding a 2014 agreement was unconvincing and lacked supporting evidence. Several factors contradicted the husband's claim of 2014 separation.
Assets divided equally.
Court found this to be a 'full fat' sharing claim due to the 2021 separation date. The Italian family home was valued at €203,000 (converted to GBP).
Husband to pay a lump sum of £264,666 to achieve equality.
Based on equal division of assets after accounting for various assets and deductions.
Husband to retain the Italian family home.
Court considered the husband's greater desire to retain the property.
Husband to pay the wife £3,000 towards her costs related to the Italian divorce proceedings.
The husband's actions in initiating those proceedings were deemed to have caused unnecessary delay and expense.
Husband to pay £20,000 towards wife's costs.
Husband's unreasonable open offers and failure to establish key arguments.
Anonymised version of the judgment to be published.
Balancing public interest in transparency with the parties' Article 8 rights.