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Question:

 

I married 12 years ago, when I was 36 years of age, and two years later we had twins.

 

Shortly after marriage my husband was required to relocate to Berlin for 14 months, and one year later had to move to Stockholm for a year.

 

On marriage I was the Finance Director of a medium sized company which has since gone on to do extremely well, and since I left has been floated on the Stock Market.

 

I, with my husband’s clear knowledge, and after discussing things with him, gave up a highly remunerative and exciting career in order to follow y husband around the world and support him and look after our children.  I did this notwithstanding the fact that I had been working my way up the career ladder for 14 years prior to my marriage, and at the time that I left my job I think I was on the cusp of commanding a very high salary.  However, we both felt that family and our own relationship was more important than money.

 

To my enormous distress, my husband has now left me and, even if I wished to go back to my previous career I could not do so, and in effect I have given up huge career opportunities only to be deserted by the man for whom I did this.

 

Will this history affect my entitlement on divorce?

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Answer:

 

It is only in rare and exceptional cases where a wife is entitled to make a claim for compensation for abandoning her career, and such a case will only arise where the Court can say without any speculation and with near certainty that a wife gave up a high earning career for the sake of her marriage and family.

 

In your case, you were in a remunerative and senior management employment for a lengthy period of time before marriage, and as you can prove this track record I think there is every reason to believe that you will be able to command compensation from your husband, provided that the family resources are sufficient to allow this.

 

The way the Court deals with this is by considering what spousal maintenance you might be entitled to, and then dealing with your monthly needs, or possibly even your capital needs, in as generous a way as possible as a form of compensating you for the loss of your career.  It is highly unlikely, however, that any Court would give you a lump sum that could properly be labelled ‘compensation’ for the loss of your career, but a Court will do its best, I think, to give you as generous a level of settlement as they can in view of the history here (HH [2014] EWHC 760 [Fam]).

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Barbara Jordan