The High Court has granted a decree of judicial separation and ordered provision totalling €1,606,335 for a woman after a marriage of more than 40 years. The package includes €160,000 towards her legal costs, transfers of investment properties and the sale of farmland. The judgment says the court would hear further submissions on aspects of the order’s implementation.
The applicant and respondent, identified in the judgment only as T and K, married in 1981 and have five adult children. She left the family home in 2016. The proceedings, brought under the Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act 1989 and the Family Law Act 1995, began in November 2018 and were heard over six effective hearing days in 2021.
The court found that the respondent had deliberately failed to make full and frank disclosure of his income and assets, and that his conduct prolonged and increased the cost of the case. It described the conduct as litigation misconduct. However, it decided not to increase the applicant’s provision as a sanction for that misconduct, saying the respondent would already lose much of the land he valued. The conduct did weigh in the court’s decision to award her €160,000 towards costs.
The judgment set the overall asset valuation at €4,339,006, excluding the schedule’s provision for outstanding legal costs. It found that proper provision required the applicant to receive one-third, or €1,446,335, plus the costs contribution. The court rejected her proposed larger share as excessive and found that proper provision could be made while leaving inherited land intact and the farming and logistics businesses viable, although restructuring would be needed.
To meet the award, the respondent’s investment properties, valued at €244,265 in the agreed schedule, are to be transferred to the applicant free of encumbrances. Farmland in a redacted county is to be put on the market within one calendar month of the judgment, with net sale proceeds applied towards the award. Any shortfall is to be paid in cash; any surplus above the amount due is to belong to the respondent. The court said it would hear whether the sale should require its approval.
The judgment also directs that the applicant transfer her interests in the family home, other specified assets and both family companies to the respondent on payment. She is to be indemnified against liabilities attached to the assets retained by him. Existing maintenance and healthcare contributions are to continue until the provision is transferred. Unpaid sums outstanding on 1 October 2022 are to accrue interest at the Courts Act rate, and the court may order further land sales if payment is not made by then.
The court directed the parties to prepare a draft order and listed the case for mention on 6 April 2022 to address outstanding aspects and any further applications. It also reserved the possibility of dealing separately with a motion concerning an alleged breach of the in-camera rule.