A judge has cut a wife’s divorce settlement by 40% after finding that she subjected her husband to coercive control, violence and long-running deception during their marriage.

In a rare decision in which personal conduct played a decisive role in the financial outcome, the Family Court ruled that it would be unfair to ignore the wife’s behaviour when deciding how the couple’s property should be divided.

The husband, aged 72, and the wife, aged 60, married in 2011 and separated in January 2023 after a relationship of just under 12 years. They have a daughter, now aged 11, who was born by surrogate.

The court heard that the wife had repeatedly misled the husband about her background, including falsely claiming to be a High Court judge. She was later convicted of fraud and dishonesty in the criminal courts. The judge also accepted findings made in earlier family proceedings that the wife had subjected the husband to coercive and controlling behaviour, including physical abuse, threats and intimidation, some of which occurred in front of their child.

In the divorce proceedings, the wife argued that she was entitled to an equal share of the couple’s two main homes, both held in joint names. Ordinarily, equal sharing is the starting point for dividing matrimonial property.

However, the judge said this was not an ordinary case. He found that the wife had made no financial contribution to the purchase of the properties and that her conduct during the marriage was so serious that it would be “inequitable to disregard” it. Taking those factors together, he reduced her entitlement from the usual starting point of equality.

Instead of receiving half the value of the matrimonial properties, the wife was awarded 30% of their combined value. The judge also found that she had already taken or transferred substantial sums during the marriage, including large unexplained overseas payments and cash withdrawals, which were treated as money already in her possession.

After taking those amounts into account, the court ordered the husband to pay the wife £750,000. She will also retain a separate property she owned before the marriage, along with other assets in her name. All maintenance payments will stop, and the order will bring about a clean break between the parties.

The judge said the award was more than sufficient to meet the wife’s needs and reflected both the nature of the marriage and the impact of her behaviour. The husband will retain the former matrimonial homes and continue to care for their daughter.

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Source:
• Case: LP v MP
• Citation: [2025] EWFC 473
• Court: Family Court, sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice
• Judge: Mr Justice Cusworth
• Date: 22 November 2025