Divorce—Financial provision—Matters to be considered by court when making order

Court of Appeal, Civil Division

Sir Mark Potter P, Thorpe and Wilson LJJ

24 May 2007

Determination of whether there should be any “special contribution” by one party under s 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) takes place within the statutory exercise. The “sharing principle” applies to all the parties’ property but, to the extent that their property is non-matrimonial, there is likely to be better reason for departure from equality.

Barry Singleton QC, Alan Boyle QC, Deborah Eaton, Deepak Nagpal and Dakis Hagen (instructed by Withers LLP) for the husband.
Martin Pointer QC, Christopher Nugee QC, James Ewins and Andrew Mold (instructed by Manches LLP) for the wife.

The parties married in 1976. To the marriage they brought their earning capacities but at that time they had in effect no capital assets. They had two children. Considerable assets were earned by the husband during the marriage. In 2004 the wife issued