The High Court ordered the transfer of several properties to a wife and directed her husband to pay her €1.8 million in a lump sum as part of divorce proceedings. The order also transferred 70% of his pension to her and provided for annual maintenance payments for qualifying dependent children.
Mr Justice Sheehan delivered judgment on 16 October 2007 in proceedings under the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996. The judgment dealt with both the wife’s 2004 judicial separation proceedings and the husband’s 2007 divorce proceedings; the parties had agreed the judgment would proceed under the divorce legislation. The court said there was no reasonable prospect of reconciliation.
The couple married in 1984 and had four children. The court considered the family’s financial circumstances, including a schedule of assets which the wife’s accountant valued at about €14.7 million before capital gains tax and realisation costs. The court accepted the valuation of a company that owned a public house, restaurant and nightclub. For a site whose planning position was unclear, it adopted a value of €140,000, which the husband had said he was prepared to accept.
The judge found that the wife had made an important contribution to the family’s finances and the development of the building company, but preferred the husband’s evidence about the extent of her role. The court also rejected the wife’s allegation that the husband received cash connected with the nightclub, preferring the evidence of the husband and his accountant. Although the husband asked the court to consider the wife’s relationship with another person, the judge concluded that her conduct did not meet the legal threshold for consideration and disregarded it.
The court ordered seven properties transferred to the wife: the family home, the adjoining site, investment properties A, B, C and D, and a site adjacent to investment property C. The husband was ordered to pay €5,000 a year for each dependent child while the child remains in third-level education, capped at age 23, with the amount linked to the consumer price index.
The €1.8 million lump sum was to be paid in four instalments: €600,000 by 1 December 2007, followed by €400,000 on each of 1 March, 1 June and 1 October 2008. The court directed that €82,000 held in savings for the children be used by the husband for their maintenance and education as he saw fit. It said it would discuss the order’s terms with counsel, including how the children’s maintenance payments should be secured if necessary.