When it comes to dividing marital assets following divorce, you only get one bite of the cherry and high quality legal advice is essential from the outset. One ex-husband discovered the truth of that statement when his complaints that his ex-wife had been unfairly awarded 80 per cent of the family property failed to convince the Court of Appeal.
The businessman argued that it was fundamentally unjust that his ex-wife had been awarded property assets worth £1.8 million by a family judge. Those included the entirety of the former matrimonial home and half of their Spanish holiday villa. He claimed that the property he came away with was worth only about £250,000.
The former couple were in their sixties and, in the absence of childcare duties, the ex-husband argued that there was no reason why their assets should not have been split equally. He also submitted that the judge’s decision had left him so hard up that he could not afford to get back on the London property ladder.
In refusing him permission to appeal, however, the Court noted that he was not entitled to a re-hearing of his case and would have to accept the judge’s word as final. None of his arguments, which he presented in person, gave rise to a reasonable prospect of overturning the judge’s decision.