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Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance

Briefings

Corporate assets and divorcing couples: a modern day Wars of the Roses?

16 November 2012

A big money divorce case has exposed a fissure between the Judges of the Family Division of the English High Court and those who sit in the Chancery Division. The battles lines are firmly drawn: on the one side, the Family courts wish to do justice between divorcing spouses; on the other, the Chancery Division Judges wish to uphold the basic tenets of English property law. The Court of Appeal's decision in Petrodel Resources Ltd v Mrs Yasmin Prest [2012] EWCA Civ 1395 is the latest instalment. For now, the house of Chancery has gained the upper hand, with the Court of Appeal reaffirming the distinction between a company and its shareholders.

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