Karen Hart and John Hart started living together in 1983. They married in 1987 and had two children.
Divorce proceedings were commenced in 2011. In 2015 Judge Wildblood ordered that she should receive £3.5 million.
Mr Hart appealed this award. On 26 May 2016 Sir James Munby of the Appeal Court stated that just because Karen Hart had a new partner who she was living with, this didn’t mean that her need for the money from her first husband had diminished.
This follows a long line of cases which deal with the concept of a wife having “earned her share” and needing her share. A husband or wife who cohabits with another is not to be automatically penalised in financial proceedings in divorce.