Sharp v Sharp

Judgment Approved

Lord Justice McFarlane:

In White v White [2001] 1 AC 596 (‘ White’) the House of Lords established what has become a principle that the matrimonial assets of a divorcing couple should normally be shared between them on an equal basis. The present appeal requires this court to consider whether that is inevitably the case where the marriage has been short, there are no children, the couple have both worked and maintained separate finances, and where one of them has been paid very substantial bonuses during their time together. Although the possibility of a relaxation of the sharing principle in such circumstances has been described in earlier cases, this is the first occasion that the point has arisen directly for determination at Court of Appeal level since White and Miller v Miller; McFarlane v McFarlane [2006] UKHL 24 ; [2006] 2 AC 618 (‘ Miller ’).

The case was heard at first instance by Sir Peter Singer, sitting as a judge of the High Court. Following a four-day hearing in May 2015, with judgment handed down on 6 November 2015 ( [2015] EWHC 2921 (Fam) ), the judge awarded capital totalling £2.725 million to the husband, which represented exactly 50% of the total matrimonial assets of £5.45 million (after deductions and concessions). The wife now appeals against that outcome. Her appeal is resisted by the husband.

The factual background

I shall refer to Mrs Julie Sharp as ‘the wife’ and Mr Robin Sharp as ‘the husband’, notwithstanding that their marriage ended in December 2014. They are each in their early 40’s and have no children. The factual background can be shortly stated and I gratefully adopt the summary given by Sir Peter Singer in the opening paragraphs of his extremely clear and well-crafted judgment:

‘2. Each party comes from a relatively modest financial background. Each of them worked hard to achieve the qualifications and experience which each of them brought to their relationship at the start of the six years for which their cohabitation and marriage lasted. W since before the parties met worked continuously for one employer and proved her value as a trader in a particular sector of the wholesale fuel trade. H was from before they met in mid-2007 continuously till October 2012 employed by an international company involved with IT. Their basic salaries were not very different in the early years of their cohabitation, around the £100,000 p.a. mark. But there was this significant difference, that W received dis