You may have read in the papers about 'big money' cases - where the assets available for division clearly exceed the parties' needs - have focused on the concept of equality of outcome. Contributions to the running of the home and the bringing up of children are valued equally by the court on divorce to contributions made by earned income. There may be other considerations -
for example, the liquidity of the assets making up the family pot, or any inheritances received, or particularly bad financial conduct on one side, which dictate that the outcome should not be equal. Fairness is what the court will try to achieve - and a 50/50 split may not be fair in all cases.
Each case has to be looked at individually. It depends on the circumstances of those involved.
In most cases, the financial settlement will reflect what each person needs fundamentally, money to pay all the bills and to sort out somewhere to live.
A 50:50 split is often the starting point, but many factors
have to be taken into account.
