Retired banker ‘gave wife £80m to avoid inheritance tax before she divorced him'

Yahoo

30-04-2025

A retired banker gave his wife nearly £80 million to avoid potentially paying inheritance tax, the Supreme Court has heard.
Clive Standish transferred assets to his wife Anna in 2017, expecting her to place the money in a trust 'primarily for the benefit' of their two children, his lawyers told a hearing in London.
When she began divorce proceedings in 2020, after 15 years of marriage, she still held the assets in her name.
In 2022, High Court judge Mr Justice Moor split the family's total wealth of £132 million by awarding Mr Standish £87 million and Mrs Standish £45 million.
Mr Standish appealed against this decision, arguing that most of the money, including the £80 million of assets that he transferred, was earned before the marriage.
Court of Appeal judges ruled last year that Mrs Standish's share should be reduced to £25 million.
Lord Faulks, for Mrs Standish, said in written submissions to the Supreme Court on Wednesday: 'The perverse effect of the judgment of the Court of Appeal is that the wife has almost no entitlement to share in assets that, during the marriage and by the express intention underlying the husband's gift, she came to own.'
He said Mr Standish had made the assets shared property when he gave them to his wife, and the value must therefore be split equally.
Mrs Standish was entitled to a higher share because she contributed to the wealth by accepting the assets as a gift, and because it was for the benefit of their two children, the barrister added.
He said: 'If left uncorrected, the judgment of the Court of Appeal will have significant implications in a considerable number of cases, including those in which one spouse has gifted or transferred assets to the other for all sorts of reasons.'
Tim Bishop KC, for Mr Standish, said in written submissions that the asset transfer should not be viewed as shared property because it was not given to Mrs Standish for her sole benefit.
He said: 'The gift made Mrs Standish the legal and beneficial owner but in no sense was it unconditional in the context of their marriage.
'Rather, it was made for a very specific purpose which was not sharing; it was about avoiding potential inheritance tax in the event of Mr Standish's death before his return to Australia, and was primarily for the benefit of the children.'
He asked the court to dismiss the appeal and take into account the fact that his intention of having the money placed into a trust for his children was never carried out.
Mr Bishop also described Mrs Standish's position of having contributed to the wealth of the assets by accepting them as a gift as 'tenuous and unconvincing'.
He said: 'Acceptance of a gift cannot be seen as an endeavour by the donee.'
The hearing before the Supreme Court president Lord Reed, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Burrows, Lord Stephens and Lady Simler will conclude on Thursday, with a judgment expected at a later date.
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