Matrimonialisation: Pre-Marital Assets in Divorce Explained
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Yael Selig
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Matrimonialisation: husband’s shareholding included as ‘non-marital’ element
The financial remedies team at Osbornes Law advises clients seeking a fair division on divorce.
When marriages break down, there is a frequent risk of dispute as to whether a pre-marital asset has been ‘matrimonialised’ and should therefore fall for distribution.
It reflects the modern reality that couples tend to marry later in life. It means that it is increasingly common for spouses (or civil partners) to enter marriage (or civil partnership) with pre-marital assets, for instance business interests, inheritances or family gifts.
In a decision involving a £20m family business and transfers of assets after separation, the court had to determine the extent to which some of the husband’s assets had been matrimonialised.
What is ‘matrimonialisation’?
Matrimonialisation is a new legal concept, and means a pre-marital asset has effectively been transformed into a marital asset, and can thus be included in the total matrimonial pot.
It was solidified by the Supreme Court earlier this year in Standish v Standish [2025] UKSC 26, which confirmed that the issue is whether the parties treated the asset as matrimonial property (and thus ‘matrimonialised’). It is not about who the legal owner is.
What happened in this case?
BM v MB [2025] EWFC 129 was a complex and high value case following the breakdown of an 18-year marriage. The litigation was long-running and, said the judge, was disproportionate and could have been avoided (legal costs had reached more than £1.1m).
The assets included the £4.12m family home and the family business which had traded since the early 1950s and prospered in recent years. Key issues concerned the husband’s land ownership and business shareholding.
The husband (BM) owned 56% of the shares in the £20m business and the wife (MB) owned 25%. BM’s mother owned the remaining 24%. BM’s shareholding included 25% inherited from his father in July 2016. He and his father had successfully grown the business since 1991 and BM said his father always wished his shares to be passed on to the next generation.
A divorce petition was issued in September 2022, two years after the parties separated.
In April 2022, BM transferred 25% of his shares into a trust and the parties’ two adult children were the beneficiaries. Two days later he transferred three pieces of land (linked to the business) to an LLP.
MB found out about the nature of the trust and the LLP in September 2022. She applied to have the transfers set aside under s37 Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 on the basis that BM had effectively ring-fenced the assets, putting them out of her reach.
The court had to consider:
- Whether the transfers should be set aside
- Whether any of the assets in dispute had been ‘matrimonialised’ and therefore would be included for distribution
The transfers
The judge set aside the transfers, concluding that BM’s motive was to defeat MB’s financial claims. She accepted that transferring assets to the next generation was central to the family’s history; and she did not doubt he had a genuine motive to do so in a tax effective way.
However, BM changed his modus operandi and excluded MB exactly when the marriage floundered and had kept her in the dark. He could not “hide behind the previous innocent intention”.
Matrimonialisation
With the entirety of BM’s shareholding and the land now within the ‘pot’, MB argued that they were all marital, having been transformed beyond recognition during the marriage.
However, BM argued that the business’s financial growth was attributable to the wider “family endeavour” and was not shareable.
The judge concluded BM was entitled to ring-fence his inherited shares and the passive growth upon them (and a property he inherited form his grandmother in 1995). However, there was a non-marital element to the shares BM had transferred.
The judge followed the decision in Standish, reiterating that simply holding an asset during the marriage does not automatically render it matrimonial property. She reflected the “family endeavour” to assume that each family (BM and MB; and BM’s parents) contributed to their half of the business; and that each family contributed to the uplift on their half share of the business.
The judge made a 25% deduction from MB’s award to reflect pre-marital contributions. MB was awarded a capital sum of 35% (£5.38m) of the total assets and 16% of BM’s pension. She was ordered to transfer her shares to BM – and he was required to discharge her directors’ loan account.
How we can help
The decision is helpful for clients and their lawyers navigating how the court will approach complex cases involving pre-marital assets.
The financial remedies experts at Osbornes Law advise clients in complex disputes on divorce. Contact us by:
- Filling in our online enquiry form; or
- Calling us on 020 7485 8811
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