One car crash, two damages payouts and a 55/45 split

The couple lived together for about 21 years and were married for nearly all of them. Both were professionals on similar incomes, and both cut back their work when their two children, now adults, were born. Late in the marriage, both were seriously injured in the same car accident. Neither can work now. His injuries changed his behaviour, and before they separated the wife took on most of his care, the children and the family's affairs.

Each later received damages, and after tax and legal costs his award was nearly three times hers. He put most of his into a pension fund that still held about $760,000 at trial. After separation she gained a one-third interest, worth about $275,000, in a trust holding her late father's estate. She also controlled a second, discretionary trust. Once the husband's lawyers began asking about it, she paid more than $230,000 out of it to one of their adult children within days.

The pool was about $4 million, including the mortgaged home the husband lived in, valued at $2.2 million. Justice O'Brien applied the law as amended from 10 June 2025 and the Full Court's recent decision in Shinohara. He rejected both sides' lists of add-backs: there is no such thing as notional property. The wife had not proved family violence before the accident, but afterwards her contributions were greater and harder to make. Against that, the husband had preserved much of his larger award. Contributions were 55% to him and 45% to her.

Looking ahead, the wife sought 5% more, pointing to the income gap, his home and her support of their children. The judge declined. She had an ongoing right to live in her father's trust property, she had paid trust money away to one of the children, and she gave no detailed evidence of how much of her award was spent. No adjustment was made either way. The husband kept the home and was ordered to pay her about $267,000, and she received all of his interest in their joint pension fund, bringing her share to about $1.79 million.