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When does non-matrimonial property become matrimonial property?

Published: 12/08/2025
Written by Curwens Solicitors

Supreme Court Update: When does non-matrimonial property become matrimonial property?

The recent Supreme Court judgment on 2 July 2025 in the case of Standish v Standish UKSC/2024/0089 in the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal on this issue. 

 

matrimonial property

In that case, the husband transferred around £80m of assets to the wife to save on inheritance tax for the benefit of the children. These assets had mostly been accumulated by the husband before the marriage. The Supreme Court agreed with the Court of Appeal that the husband was entitled to 75% of the £80m plus half of the remaining 25% as only 25% of the £80m was subject to the sharing principle.

This was because only 25% of the 2017 Assets was marriage property that was subject to the sharing principle. The bulk of the £80m was therefore ordered to be returned to the husband.

The Supreme Court did not accept that the transfer was a gift to the wife, but was a transfer for the benefit of their children as it was to avoid inheritance tax.

The importance of working out what is matrimonial and what is non-matrimonial is in relation to the “sharing principle”, but is not so important when looking at the “needs” and “compensation” principles.

In this case there were sufficient assets overall so that the sharing principle was the only issue, as by sharing the matrimonial assets there was sufficient to meet the wife’s needs and compensation.

non matrimonial property 2

Non-matrimonial assets can become matrimonial assets through a process of “matrimonialisation” by considering how the parties have been dealing with the asset and whether this shows that, over time, they have been treating the asset as shared between.


At Curwens, we have legal specialists who deal with both children and financial issues, and a mediator Zen Thompson who is both a family law solicitor and a mediator.


To find out more, please contact Zen Thompson, one of our specialist family solicitors, on 01763 241 261 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please note that our briefings are for informational purposes only, and do not constitute legal advice.

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Any data that you submit using this web form will be held by our firm as Data Controller and will be held securely for 12 months before being securely and confidentially destroyed.
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