Not every divorce case is marked by bitterness and, in dividing a £3.4 million fortune built up by a successful sportsman, a family judge noted that the generosity and cooperation of the ex-husband and wife had eased his task.
The sportsman earned about £1 million a year and had invested much of that in a property portfolio, his pension, a holiday home and other assets. Following the end of their 26-year marriage, his ex-wife, who had brought up their four children and acted as a home maker throughout, sought an equal division of their capital, the majority of his pension and £6,000 a month in maintenance.
He, however, proposed a clean break under which his ex-wife would receive all the investment properties, his whole pension and a £480,000 lump sum. In ruling on the case, the judge found that neither husband nor wife had lived a luxurious lifestyle and praised them for holding little or no bitterness towards each other.
The judge noted that the husband was reaching the end of his professional sporting life and that the wife had no realistic earning capacity. He ruled that the fairest outcome would be a clean break, roughly amounting to an equal division of the marital assets. The wife was awarded the pension pot, certain property assets and an £830,000 lump sum that would be sufficient to ensure her security.