Cowan v Cowan

LORD JUSTICE THORPE LORD JUSTICE ROBERT WALKER and LORD JUSTICE MANCE ____________________

(Transcript of the Handed Down Judgment of Smith Bernal Reporting Limited, 190 Fleet Street London EC4A 2AG Tel No: 020 7421 4040, Fax No: 020 7831 8838 Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)

MISS FLORENCE BARON QC and SIMON GILL (instructed by Lucas McMullan Jacobs of London E10 7AA) appeared on behalf of the appellant. MARTIN POINTER QC and VALENTINE LE GRICE (instructed by Foreman Laws of Hitchin SG5 1JW) appeared on behalf of the respondent. ____________________

"The first, and major, issue upon which I must reach conclusions is the nature, duration and effect of the wife's contributions to the family's wealth. For she maintains and lays heavy emphasis upon her claim that she played a vital role in the inception of the business which was to provide the family's fortune. She maintains that her input to the development of the business was so significant that it is the major factor which should be reflected in the outcome of her application, and which should enhance her award over and above that full entitlement which it is conceded she should enjoy.

It is, in my view, quite simply unrealistic for the wife to say (as she did in an affidavit sworn in February 1999) that during the early 1970s the husband totally took over 'my executive responsibility'. Of course she may have contributed ideas in the early stages, but the reality was that she telephoned and canvassed orders, picked up and delivered goods, and managed to combine that and no doubt a modest degree of bookkeeping with running the home and caring for the children.