Divorce, separation and finances

A cross border team acted for an ultra high net worth client in an exceptionally complex divorce, involving company structures and multiple third parties, offshore trusts and multi million dollar assets in a number of jurisdictions. We obtained the highest ever award for interim maintenance in Hong Kong.

We acted for the wife in OS v DS. Her husband had failed to make proper disclosure of his financial resources, which we therefore had to trace through a complicated network of corporate structures, mainly in Africa. In order to unearth the husband's true financial position we assisted in establishing an innovative court procedure so that the judge could carry out a 'preliminary/oral discovery' hearing to determine the relevant facts in this case. Following that hearing we were able to settle the case resulting in a positive outcome for our client. Whilst this procedure was created for the particular circumstances of our case, it has since been used in many other cases and is now known as an 'OS v DS hearing'.

We acted for the mother and child in Hong Kong under the Guardianship of Minors Ordinance, achieving for our client the highest award for such child maintenance to date.

We delivered a comprehensive result for the wife in X v X [2016]. We successfully argued that her husband’s interest in a trust should be considered a resource of his and included in the marital assets available for division. The case also involved complex issues of assessing the contributions made by the husband and the wife during the marriage, the valuation of shares in a listed company, and the extent of non-matrimonial assets.

We successfully acted for the husband to defeat the wife's application for a stay on the basis that Australia was the more appropriate jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal considered the factors the court should bear in mind when dealing with such challenges. At the time, it was a landmark case and is regularly quoted to this day on the topic of forum non conveniens.<br />

We acted for advertising and marketing giant WPP's CEO, Sir Martin Sorrell, in his divorce case, which is one of the very few in which the judges accepted the argument that his 'exceptional contribution' to the marriage's finances was sufficient to justify an unequal division of the couple's assets. Sir Martin was awarded 60% of the assets, with no ongoing maintenance payments.

Sharon Ser led the team to the Court of Appeal acting for a wife in respect of an application to set aside an order for leave to appeal. This case at first instance involved the wife's application for a greater share of the matrimonial assets on the basis of compensation. She was successful in achieving 70% of the total matrimonial assets with periodical payments for 10 years. The wife appealed and the husband then sought leave to cross appeal although he was 51 days out of time. The Court of Appeal refused the husband's application for leave to appeal.

A property developer's business suffered huge losses when the financial crisis hit, and we acted for him in his divorce negotiations with his wife, heiress of a business empire. Our team helped the husband defend the allocation of an equal split of the couple's finances, plus an extra £5 million lump sum payment to the husband to cover half of his property losses.

Sharon Ser acted for the wife in an extremely complex financial case where the husband sought to argue assets in the 14 year marriage were acquired prior to the marriage and should be classed as non-matrimonial assets and excluded from the sharing principle. The Hong Kong Court of Appeal ruled that the assets had been sufficiently intermingled with the family expenses and that they should not be discounted completely.

We acted for the husband in a high value divorce, which involved a conflict in jurisdiction between Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China. The matter reached The Court of Final Appeal and led to a change in Hong Kong law, introducing new legislation to allow a party who had a divorce in another jurisdiction to seek a financial remedy in Hong Kong where applicable. This is an important measure protecting those who would be unfairly prejudiced by an overseas divorce.

We represented Lisa Tchenguiz in a lengthy, complex, high profile divorce which resulted in a change in the law on disclosure and confidentiality of documents in divorce proceedings; and also produced additional decisions in relation to the joinder of trust beneficiaries to financial proceedings on divorce. The Court of Appeal ruled that unauthorized access to a former spouse's personal documents breached a duty of confidentiality. The judgment has been described by some as a cheat's charter and an obstacle to transparency.

As our client approached retirement, following a long and distinguished career as a barrister, he applied to terminate the maintenance payments he had been ordered to pay to his first wife for life. His former wife sought a lump sum payment of £560,000 in lieu of ongoing maintenance. The case went to the Court of Appeal, who established that the potential claims of a second wife cannot take priority over the first wife's claims and ordered a payment of £215,000 (less than half the amount she initially sought).

A landmark divorce case in Hong Kong involved German pre and postnuptial agreements. The case confirmed that the principles set out in the English Supreme Court case of Radmacher, in respect of prenuptial agreements, would be an appropriate precedent for the Hong Kong courts, and that, if the parties fully understood the implications, they would most likely be bound to their agreements.

Our client, who shared the care of his two children with his former wife, opposed her application to relocate to Canada permanently with them. We represented him in the Court of Appeal and successfully overturned the initial decision, so his former wife did not have permission to leave with the children. The decision marked an influential development in the court's approach to applications to relocate abroad with children. This followed C v C, an earlier decision in which Withers also acted, where we represented the father who successfully resisted the mother's application to permanently relocate with the children to the US.

We acted for Sir Chris Hohn in what was then the highest value divorce case. He had generated his wealth through huge success in investment management, and had also established a charitable foundation which achieved international recognition in its field. We successfully argued that the marital assets should not be equally divided, in part due to his 'special contribution' to their generation. Mrs Cooper-Hohn was awarded 36% of the total.

We acted for the mother in her application for permission to relocate to Russia with the two children. This decision re-iterated what the Court of Appeal had said in MK v CK, that the only principle to apply is the welfare principle, but in this case the Court decided that our client should be given permission to relocate.

We acted for the husband in successfully defending an application by his ex-wife for additional financial relief over and above that which was embodied in a separation agreement they had entered 20 years prior, but which had not been made into an order of the court. The wife's application for permission to appeal the High Court judgment was refused.