Victory for tycoon as ex loses plea to increase £3.5m divorce payout
THE ex-wife of a property tycoon yesterday lost her plea to increase her £3.5million divorce payout to £5million after the Appeal Court ruled her share was not unfair.
Karen Hart, 61, complained the original settlement after the breakdown of her marriage to millionaire John Hart, 82, was “the worst possible result”.
But a judge ruled that Mr Hart was already wealthy before the marriage and entitled to keep a greater share of his fortune.
The former air hostess was seeking to overturn a 2015 judgment which divided the family wealth of £9.4million, leaving her with £3.5million to cover her “reasonable needs”.
Family judge Stephen Wildblood had found originally that Mr Hart had brought £2.6million into the marriage in 1987.
He also decided that a trust fund worth £5.5million belonged to Mr Hart.
The couple began living together when he was 48 and she was 27. Peter Mitchell, her barrister, argued the award was “unfair and discriminatory” and said Mrs Hart should have been handed more than £5million.
“Marriage is a partnership of equals and, if you build up a pot together, you should share equally in that pot,” he said. But Grant Armstrong, for Mr Hart, said that at the time of the marriage he was already a very rich “man of substance” and had built a property development empire after starting on his father’s market stall selling fruit in the 1950s.
By comparison, his bride was a financial “mouse” whose only asset was a Porsche, he said.
“This was not a case where a couple grew their assets together,” Mr Armstrong added.
Far from being unfair to her, the divorce had left Mrs Hart “a home, a holiday home, a lifetime income at a very considerable figure and clear of liabilities”, he said.
Ruling on Mrs Hart’s appeal, Lord Justice Moylan said there were “deficiencies” in Mr Hart’s evidence about the extent of his assets. But he said: “I have, after much reflection, come to the conclusion that the judge did not fall into error when awarding the wife £3.5million.
“The judge was plainly entitled to find that the husband had substantial wealth at the commencement of the relationship because this was agreed.”
The pair separated in 2006 and started divorce proceedings in 2011. Since then, the court heard, Mr and Mrs Hart have spent more than £500,000 on lawyers’ fees during their fight over money.
Nicola Walker, Mrs Hart’s solicitor, said the decision was a “dangerous precedent”.
She said: “For nearly 20 years it has been a settled principle that divorcing spouses should share equally in the fruits of their matrimonial partnership.
“Mr Hart frustrated that inquiry by his refusal to provide relevant information and has been allowed to reap the benefits.”
When they met in 1979, Mrs Hart was an air hostess and Mr Hart a wealthy property developer.
The couple, who have two adult children, lived in a £1.1million five-bedroom gated house in Wishaw, Warwickshire.