Matrimonial home treated like other assets for sharing

Source of funds arguments were to the fore again in the Court of Session case of WA v JA [2017] CSOH 93, where the husband brought substantial gifted, inherited and pre-marriage property into the matrimonial pot.

Noting that in this case there were discrete and substantial capital payments from pre-marital property of the husband, Lady Carmichael reiterated that “the exercise for the court is one of discretion in every case, taking into account a variety of factors that will be different in every case”.

She further emphasised that the matrimonial home had no special status when it came to unequal sharing, nor did the fact that it was in joint names give rise to any inference that its value should be divided equally on divorce.