A man agreed to give his wife their $14 million home, but she wanted more from the divorce and took him to court… now she deeply regrets it
A Sydney woman’s bid to double her fortune to $31 million in her divorce case has backfired spectacularly as she now has to pay more than $1.4 million to her husband.
The pair fought in the Family Court of Australia over tens of millions in assets, including large properties, luxury healthcare, shares and art.
They initially agreed to divide their assets, with 53 percent going to the woman Daily Telegraph reported.
The deal would see her walk away with a $14 million mortgage-free home.
However, the woman was not satisfied and appealed. She alleged that her husband hid $17 million worth of stock and “deplorably failed to meet his disclosure obligations.”
Had her appeal been successful, she could have walked away with approximately $31 million in assets.
Her assumption about her husband’s wealth was proven wrong when a forensic financial report revealed that he had lost ten million dollars in the stock market in less than five years.
He told the court that the actual value of his shares was $3 million.
Had the woman’s appeal been successful, she could have walked away with approximately $31 million in assets
The court also heard he owed about $2 million in taxes for a year in which he had a gross income of more than $6 million.
The court reassessed the value of all the couple’s assets and the new figure came back significantly lower.
As a result, the court ruled that the wife would actually have to pay her husband more than $1.4 million.
She may now have to sell her $14 million property to make the payment within the court-ordered 60 days.
Judge Robert Harper told the court it was ‘probably neither realistic nor just and equitable’ for her to keep the property.
However, the woman had some rulings in her favor. The court found her husband had spent excessively when, before the asset split was finalized, he spent nearly $1 million on a wedding to his new wife.
The man had told the court it was ‘reasonable of him to mark the beginning of a new chapter in his life with a “sliver” of happiness, after ending “a bitter marriage”’.
But the judge disagreed, saying that spending so much money on the wedding before dividing the assets was far more than what he needed to do to “get on with his life.”
The man was also ordered to repay more than $500,000 in assets he gave to his new wife, including $300,000 cash and a $200,000 car.