Millionaire Wins Divorce Case Despite Committing Perjury

The court of appeal has found a millionaire businessman dishonest, fraudulent and guilty of perjury but he still won the case to prevent his ex-wife claiming a greater share of his assets.

Following their 17 year marriage which ended when they separated in 2010, Charles Sharland and ex-wife Alison agreed to split the matrimonial assets.

IT entrepreneur Mr Sharland, owned 63% of the share capital of a software company he founded.  The original divorce agreement reached stated that Mrs Sharland should receive 30 percent of the sale of any of these shares.

Following this settlement, Mrs Sharland discovered that contrary to evidence he gave, her ex-husband had actually planned to float the company on the stock exchange. 

Despite Mrs Sharland's settlement being worth £10.355m in cash and properties in comparison to her ex-husband's £5.64m.   Mrs Sharland asked the courts to set the order aside as she would not have settled on these terms had she known the true position.

Three judges agreed that Mr Sharland had perjured himself, with Lord Justice Moore-Bick describing his conduct as 'deplorable, deliberate and dishonest' according to a report in the Law Society Gazette.

However, the court found that this dishonesty and non-disclosure would not have materially affected the outcome of the case and the wife would not have received a substantially different sum had the court been told the full facts.

Beth Wilkins, partner at JMW Solicitors representing Mr Sharland described the judgement as a 'common sense outcome'.  She adds, "At any time in the future, Mrs Sharland gets 30% of the value of the shares and she's already got the lion's share of the assets.  This lady did very well".

If you would like to discuss divorce proceedings with our confidential lawyers, call now on 0845 603 0708 or send an email to answers@nationalsolicitors.com

Lee Chadwick LLP

Oxford Divorce Solicitors

Tel: 0845 603 0708