Today's Family Lawyer quotes James Riby on an ‘extraordinary’ Court of Appeal case that highlights the importance of disclosure

The Court of Appeal has ruled on the case of a former manager of the rock band INXS, in a £14 million legal battle between Maria-Christina Copinger-Symes, her ex-husband and her estranged multimillionaire mother.

Copinger-Symes claimed she was entitled to a share of £27.6m gifted secretly by her mother to her ex-husband as part of divorce proceedings in 2022. The mother and former husband argued that the gift was "non-matrimonial" and would not have been made if Copinger-Symes were able to share it.

A family court ruling made in 2024 overturned the financial order in the divorce, on the basis of this pre-planned cash gift amounting to "material non-disclosure" by the ex-husband. A judgment has now been handed down from the Royal Courts of Justice, dismissing the appeals made by the mother and former husband, resulting that Copinger-Symes' claim to the money can proceed. The judges ruled that non-disclosure of this gift had a material effect on the division of the divorcing couple's assets when they originally divorced.

James Riby, Partner in our Family team, comments in Today's Family Lawyer about this 'extraordinary' Court of Appeal case and important lessons for practice.

The depth of the wife's rift from her family is extreme, the way in which the battle lines are drawn - with son-in-law and mother-in-law allied - is all but unheard of, and the scale of the wife's family wealth is exceptional. However, the legal principles at the heart of this case have important implications for the duty of disclosure and fairness.

Disclosure obligations remain firmly engaged until the conclusion of proceedings and this decision provides the strongest reminder that an order remains vulnerable to challenge where that principle is infringed. 

Read the full article in Today's Family Lawyer here.