The Court of Appeal have dismissed the appeal from the wife, Anna Standish, but have allowed the cross-appeal from the husband, Clive Standish, in a landmark ruling.
The original award in favour of the wife, made by Mr Justice Moor in October 2022 and based on her sharing claim, was £45m. The Court of Appeal have reduced this to £25m. There will be a further hearing before a High Court Judge to assess whether £25m will meet the wife’s needs. The wife’s appeal had sought to increase her award from £45m to £66m, being half of the overall wealth.
Tim Bishop KC and Tom Harvey, of 1 Hare Court, acted for Clive Standish both in the proceedings below and on appeal. They were instructed by Stewarts (Sam Longworth, Lucy Stewart-Gould, Harriet Franks and Fiona Porter).
This £20m reduction on appeal from a divorce award is believed to be the largest ever such reduction. The original award of £45m was reduced by 45% which is, again, believed to be unprecedented.
Clive Standish had made the vast majority of the wealth in the case before the parties’ marriage in 2005. Towards the end of the marriage, he had transferred substantial wealth to his wife as part of an estate planning arrangement, for the benefit of their children, which was never implemented. The Court of Appeal (Moylan LJ giving the lead judgment with which King LJ and Phillips LJ agreed) upheld the husband’s argument that the source of the funds was the critically important factor to which Mr Justice Moor had given inadequate recognition. Tim Bishop KC said:
“I am delighted that the Court of Appeal has made a £20m adjustment in the award in favour of our client, which we believe to be the largest such reduction ever made. His unmatched contribution of very substantial pre-marital wealth has now received fair recognition. It is an important element of the sharing principle that such contributions are properly reflected”.
The link to the judgment: https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewca/civ/2024/567
