The High Court granted a decree of judicial separation to a married couple identified as T.V.C. and N.P.C., while deferring a final decision on the division of their pensions for 11 months.
In a judgment delivered on 13 July 2012, Mr Justice Henry Abbott said the family faced substantial debt, negative equity and spending that exceeded what their finances could sustain. The court accepted annual gross income of €550,000 as a working estimate for the husband’s business income. It found the family home, valued at €600,000 with a mortgage of about €1.085 million, had negative equity of about €530,000. The wife was expected to return to employment, but the court said it would not treat anticipated earnings as current income when setting maintenance.
The court proposed maintenance that would give the wife €30,000 net a year, with €300 a month for each of the two children. The judgment described the arrangement as a framework for meeting needs amid sharply reduced spending money. It also directed the husband to pay the mortgage on the family home, where the wife was granted the sole right of residence for life. No property adjustment order was made in relation to the home.
The couple were granted joint custody of the children. Existing access arrangements were accepted pending a later review, and both parents were directed to follow handover arrangements advised by Professor Sheehan by 1 September 2012. The court did not alter the existing parenting arrangements at this stage.
The court required the husband to establish a sinking fund within two months. Gross business income above €550,000 a year was to be placed in the account, after provision for VAT and estimated income tax, and divided equally among four purposes: future pension contributions, a cash reserve, maintenance reserves and personal spending after one year’s accumulation. The husband was also directed to provide the wife with an account of the fund.
The court indicated that pensions might ultimately be divided 60/40 in the wife’s favour, but made no pension adjustment order at this stage. It adjourned the matter for review in 11 months, when the operation of the fund and the pension division would be considered. The husband was also directed to have his shares in “the company” valued and liquidated, with proceeds transferred to the fund, and to sell his art apart from three items to be retained for family and sentimental reasons.