A newspaper article which I recently read dealt with the divorce case of a Russian Billionaire, Mr. Boris Berezovsky. Berezovsky was recently asked by his wife Galina for a divorce and instructed a leading London attorney to represent her. The abovementioned couple had been married for 18 years and it is estimated that Mrs. Berezovsky could walk away with up to R1, 27 billion of her husband’s estate, which some estimate to be at least one billion pounds. The couple separated about sixteen years ago and Mrs. Berezovsky lives in London with their two teenage children.
If this matter was heard in a South African court I am convinced that the Court would definitely take into account the years that the parties have been separated when working out division of the assets. Mr. Berezovsky’s argument would in all likelihood be that his wife made no contribution either directly or indirectly, to the equity which he built up during the period of separation, and therefore she should not be entitled to share in that, no matter what their matrimonial regime is.
What would strengthen Mrs. Berezovsky’s case however is that when the couple met in 1981 Mr. Berezovsky was a poor mathematician. During the course of their marriage Mr. Berezovsky started in business and made money importing and distributing motor vehicles. Mrs. Berezovsky would argue that were it not for her being there, her husband would not have achieved the financial success which he did after starting his business.
I recently had a case where my client received a pension fund payout five years after separating from his wife. He had in fact only started that new job after having separated from his wife. Our argument was that five years had lapsed since the separation of the parties and the date of summons in the divorce matter and that his wife made no contribution to the growth in his pension. The court found that his wife therefore had no legal claim to share in the growth of the pension during the five year period of separation.
What I find particularly interesting about the law is that a case can be argued in many different ways. It is not like other professions, like medicine, for example, where there is often one way only to heal a broken bone for example. In a divorce case there are very often two sides with two totally different arguments. Each party always feels that they should get a greater share of the assets than the other party. One thing which is certain though is you can never claim a share in the equity to which you have not contributed, whether directly or indirectly. If you haven’t lived together for a while this is definitely relevant when it comes to division of the assets.
This article was written by Cape Town lawyer, Peter M Baker
petermbaker@yahoo.com
Section 7 notice in terms of the Matrimonial Property Act