Case No. EWFC-75

To make the job of reading this long judgment less burdensome, I wish to state now that I have had no difficulty at all in rejecting the trust claims. I have had no difficulty in dealing with the alleged debts. However, I have agonised over the division of the remaining £730,000 worth of assets because of the mess that this case has got itself into. My conclusion is that the only fair solution that is left is to direct the transfer of St Michael’s Avenue to the wife, subject to the mortgage and on the Mesher basis set out above (80/20 in favour of the wife). I also direct the sale of Beaconsfield Rd. I have spent a great deal of time deciding upon the division of the net sale proceeds of that property. The figures relating to the sale proceeds of Beaconsfield Rd work out in this way:17.For reasons that I expand in this judgment and applying my discretion as to what, overall is fair, I have decided to impose the first of those divisions as the outcome of this case. Roughly, a 70/30 split, albeit that the husband will have to wait for his share of the former matrimonial home. 18.The parties will need to obtain advice about how much of a CGT reserve should be set aside from the sale proceeds of Beaconsfield Rd; the 50/50 division should be effected in the first instance after that reserve has been set aside. If there should be a surplus within the reserve after payment of CGT, the surplus should be divided in the same 50/50 proportions. I have not been given any information about the tenancy by which tenants occupy the property and so I will have to assume that vacant possession could be obtained. The contrary was not suggested by anyone when I raised the issue and everyone relied on the vacant possession valuation.19.