High net worth individuals facing divorce settlements in the UK will be encouraged to fight to retain a larger proportion of their assets fo...

High net worth individuals facing divorce settlements in the UK will be encouraged to fight to retain a larger proportion of their assets following a landmark ruling on advertising executive Sir Martin Sorrell's marriage break-up. Although Sir Martin, the former Saatchi & Saatchi man who founded the WPP advertising empire, must pay his ex-wife Sandra a High Court settlement worth £29.3 million ($52.3 million), this is only around 40 per cent of his assets. Judges have been increasingly inclined to give wives lareger settlements and there has been a legal presumption of a 50-50 asset split. The settlement includes a lump sum of £23.5 million in addition to a £3.2 million townhouse and two underground parking spaces in Harrods department store worth about £90,000 each. It is the first time a judge has decided against an even split in a big-money case since an influential ruling in 2002 which in effect gave equality to non-working wives. "It has to be remembered that this case is an exceptional case in that the assets were extremely large and the husband's 'seeds of genius' created the wealth,” Helen Bowns, a specialist family lawyer at private client law firm Mills & Reeve told WealthBriefing. “However the Judge does state that 'I do not base my decision upon the factor that the size of the family fortune....alone justifies a conclusion of special contribution'. Therefore it is likely that we will see husbands citing the 'seed of genius' in more cases as a reason to depart from equality,” she said. “The court previously considered the issue of contribution in big money cases in Cowan and Lambert and came to contradictory conclusions. In Cowan we saw the 'stellar contribution' of Mr Cowan and in Lambert contributions by the breadwinner were not a reason to depart from equality. We are now back to the special contributions argument being a reason to depart from equality." In the Lambert judgment, the judge left only the slimmest chance of unequal shares, saying: "Special contribution remains a legitimate possibility but only in exceptional circumstances." The former Lady Sorrell, who was married to Sir Martin for 33 years, is expected to appeal against the ruling.