Client
Applicant wife
Category
Family Matter
Outcome
Settled before FDR
A farming partnership, three generations of family money, and an argument about what counted as matrimonial.
The husband’s family had farmed the same land since 1952. The question was not whether the farm was a matrimonial asset but how much of its value had been built during the eighteen-year marriage.
What we did
We commissioned a single joint expert valuation with a schedule apportioning growth by period, rather than arguing for a headline figure. That reframed the negotiation from ownership to contribution.
Outcome
Agreed at a private FDR: a clean break with a lump sum representing 41 per cent of the growth during the marriage, and the farm left intact.
