The High Court granted XY and YX a decree of judicial separation and made financial and property orders for the wife, including €60,000 a year in gross maintenance initially and an exclusive right to live in the family home for life. The court left the trust holding the home in place in the interim and adjourned further consideration of any surplus from the husband’s assets after debts and the NAMA process or bankruptcy are addressed.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Abbott on 14 July 2010, said the parties agreed they were entitled to judicial separation under section 2(1)(f) of the Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act 1989. The court found the husband’s businesses were manifestly insolvent, with substantial debt against the assets. It concluded he was unlikely to have positive value in the assets listed in the case spreadsheet during NAMA’s ten-year term.
The court directed the husband to write to the trustees of the B Trust, which held the family home and attached mews, to make XY an object of the trust and cooperate in securing the vesting of the properties. The trust is to continue in the interim. XY was also granted an exclusive right of residence in the home for life, and the court dispensed with the husband’s consent to any further disposition of it.
Maintenance was set at €60,000 gross a year, payable in monthly instalments of €5,000 from 1 July 2010. It is to fall to €50,000 a year from 1 July 2012, when the wife was expected to receive rent from the mews. Payment is to be made through transfer of the husband’s shareholding in TBQ Limited, with any shortfall paid directly by him. The order secures maintenance for five years over an apartment identified as being at BI.
The court ordered a pension adjustment in XY’s favour relating to 100% of retirement benefits under a Hibernian Aviva policy, together with a €7,000 lump sum due by 15 February 2011. Following encashment of a separate Irish Life policy, the two policies are to be divided equally. Formal pension orders were adjourned for approval on 16 December 2010.
Any surplus remaining after encumbrances and the NAMA process or bankruptcy is to be divided 80% to YX and 20% to XY. The court adjourned further consideration of that surplus and related orders. It also directed YX to cooperate with creditors to maximise any surplus, refrain from disposing of assets outside the normal course of business, provide XY with brief reports every two years, and include succession arrangements in his business plan in case of death or disablement. There was no order as to costs, with liberty for XY to apply.