WPP Plc Chief Executive Officer Martin Sorrell relied on it in his 2005 divorce, in which a judge ruled his contribution was exceptional and awarded his ex-wife 40 percent of their 75 million pounds ($93 million) of assets.
‘Extraordinary Talent’
And the next year a judge gave the ex-wife of Axis Capital Holdings Ltd.’s then CEO John Charman 36.5 percent of their 131 million-pound marital estate on the basis that her contribution didn’t match his “extraordinary talent and energy.” Charman lost a later appeal for a larger share.
In 2014, a judge decided that Jamie Cooper-Hohn, the ex-wife of the Children’s Investment Fund Management UK LLP founder Chris Hohn should get 36 percent of their $1.5 billion marital estate. She didn’t appeal.
Despite rarely reaching the top courts, "special contribution" is developing into a regular tactic to employ in high-stakes divorces.
Another judge awarded the wife of 78-year-old Khoo Kay Peng, Malayan United Industries Bhd’s chairman 64 million pounds in their divorce, after 42 years of marriage. She had sought about 100 million pounds.
The judge described Peng as a “hugely successful entrepreneur and businessman” but ruled that given the "substantial contribution" in the home made by his ex-wife Pauline Chai, “much of it on her own, on different continents from her husband,” there was no case to award him more. He plans to appeal the decision.
Ryan Giggs
Tuesday’s ruling "comes at a time when family lawyers are following the development of the ‘special contribution’ argument with interest," said Jo Carr-West, a family lawyer not involved in the Work divorce case.
This week, ex-Manchester United soccer player Ryan Giggs said he plans to call expert witnesses to try to convince a judge to award him a bigger share of the estate in his forthcoming divorce case.