News

A landmark ruling in a high net worth divorce case has seen the largest cut to financial settlement in legal history.

The case raises important issues about the division of assets, the difference between non-marital and marital wealth, and strategies employed for reducing tax liabilities.

The judge ruled that the Court of Appeal’s decision within the former chief financial officer at UBS and sheep farming tycoon’s divorce settlement unfairly favoured his wife. She says the decision sets an extraordinary precedent.

The 45% (£20million) reduction of the divorce award to the former wife of a multimillionaire retired banker is believed to be the largest cut to a settlement heard before the courts to date.

Navigating family law can be challenging, particularly in divorce cases where there are significant assets and complex financial arrangements. Duncan Lewis’ high net divorce team has wide-ranging experience of these issues, and Isabella Lloyd unpicks the issues arising from the case and the applicable laws involved.

Case Background

Lawyers representing the husband argued that the husband had made the majority of his wealth before the parties married in 2005. The husband, Mr Clive Standish, had transferred a substantial amount of money (£80 million in assets) to his wife, Ms Anna Standish, in an effort to estate plan to benefit their children due to inheritance tax, which was not implemented. This transfer in the Judge’s ruling did not change the characterisations of these transferred assets into matrimonial property.

At the time of the divorce in 2020 the marital assets were £123 million. In June 2004 the husband was worth £57.3 million and the wife was alleged to have no significant pre-marital wealth.

The hearing was because of a cross-appeal lodged by the husband against an original settlement of £45 million. The wife’s appeal was dismissed where she appealed on the grounds of fairness. The unanimous ruling was handed down on the basis that the sharing principle had been flawed.

The sharing principle is the starting position for all financial cases. All assets should be equally split among the parties unless there is good reasons to do so. The Court will depart from this norm in a needs based case (the Court will prioritise the needs of the parties and children) or where there has been a short and/or childless marriage. The ultimate aim and objective with the sharing principle is to give each party an equal start on the road to independent living.

The classification of matrimonial and non-matrimonial property is relevant when applying the sharing principle in proceedings as the Court is required to establish the extend that the current assets owned by the parties are comprised or reflect the product of martial endeavours and to the extent in which they do not. The sharing principle is applied to all the parties’ property but is applied more forcibly to matrimonial property. The application of the sharing principle is considered on a case-by-case basis and is highly discretionary.

In this particular case, it was deemed that there had been an unjustified and unequal division of the family’s wealth in favour of the wife. The wife argued that this ruling sets an ‘unfair’ and extraordinary precedent moving the courts further away from the principle that assets should be equally split in divorce proceedings.

The matter is to return to the High Court where a needs assessment will be conducted. The ruling by the Court of Appeal focused on the division of assets and was not concerned as to the wife’s needs.

Duncan Lewis Solicitors

The team at Duncan Lewis is widely recognised for dealing with high net worth divorces. Our family and childcare solicitors and caseworkers handle all aspects of domestic and international family law proceedings, with particular specialism in representing victims of domestic violence, handling high net worth divorce matters and securing financial settlement following the breakdown of a marriage.

The team is experienced at dealing with cases involving well-known or high profile individuals and are made up of a number of specialist solicitors, including Law Society accredited Children Law and Advanced Family Panel members who are authorised to act for children in all children public law proceedings. Many of the lawyers in the teams are also members of the Association of Lawyers for Children, and/or members of Resolution. Our Manchester Family and Childcare team are experienced in dealing with financial matters.

About the Author:

Isabella Lloyd is a Caseworker based in our Family and Childcare department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. She works under the supervision of Supervisor, Emily Reed, and Director, Meena Kumari, assisting the department with the day-to-day progression of cases.

Contact her via email at isabellal@duncanlewis.com or by telephone on 020 7923 8515.