Disputed Relevant Date

The relevant date (the date of separation) was disputed in a recent preliminary proof hearing. Sometime in 2004 a wife discovered that whilst on holiday with her husband in the Autumn of 2003 he had visited a prostitute and had contracted a sexually transmitted disease which had been passed onto her. As a result the husband left the family home in December 2004 although he visited on occasion, staying for a short while. The wife also visited his flat and her position was, until May 2007, she had hoped and expected that they would return to live together full time in a conventional married style. Lord Turnbull ruled, on the balance of probabilities, that the couple had ceased living together as of 15 December 2004 and this was the relevant date for valuing the matrimonial property.

The full judgement is here and the case was reported in the Scotsman article "The dentist, his wife, the prostitute, a nasty disease and a £2m divorce case"