In the case of Work v Gray [2017] EWCA Civ 270, the Court of Appeal confirmed that a party’s ‘special contribution’ to a marriage is one such good reason to depart from equality, but only where that contribution is so ‘exceptional’ that it would be inequitable to disregard it.
Work v Gray
Case background
Randy Work and Mandy Gray were married in their native US in 1995. Mr Work made an enormous success of his role at private equity firm, Loan Star and as a result of his hard work, the total profits invested was over $700m. By the date of the hearing, in the first instance before Mr Justice Holman, the marital ‘pot’ totalled $225m.
In his decision, Holman J said that Mr Work’s claim for special contribution did not have the requisite ‘exceptional and individual quality’ to justify an unequal split of the pot. Mr Work had undoubtedly worked incredibly hard and achieved fantastic success in his field, but he was ultimately an employee whose achievements owed much to being in the right place at the right time.
It was argued on appeal that the quantum of wealth generated in and of itself, provided it was ‘unmatched’ by the spouse, could sometimes (as in Mr Work’s case) be so significant that to ignore it would result in an ‘unfair’ outcome.
Decision
The appeal Judges agreed that in some cases the amount of wealth generated by one party will be extraordinary enough to deserve special treatment. Often, however, he or she will need independently to establish an ‘exceptional’ quality responsible for the contribution. It need not be a contribution of ‘genius’ or be ‘unmatched’ by the other spouse, but it should be unique. Holman J had not erred in finding Mr Work’s contribution was not sufficiently unique to justify an unequal division of the assets.
Only the most unique of contributions will give the Court ‘good reason’ to depart from the ‘yardstick of equality’. The appeal Judges also discouraged special contribution cases that are run on ‘gendered’ lines.
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