The treatment of future earnings

We are approaching 20 years since the seminal House of Lords decision in White v White [2000] UKHL 54 yet the judicial debate as to how to implement the principle it established that there should be no discrimination between breadwinner and homemaker in  financial arrangements on divorce remains alive. This has been highlighted by Mostyn J's recent decision in CB v KB [2019] EWFC 78 on the issue of whether a wife should be required to amortise her sharing award to meet her income needs where the husband will have surplus income. Whilst Mostyn J said that he "cannot conceive of any case" where it would be reasonable for the wife not to have to amortise her sharing award his approach marked a significant departure from the prevailing jurisprudence and is in striking contrast to Thorpe LJ's approach in Lambert v Lambert [2002] EWCA Civ 1685 where he could see "no possible reason why the wife alone should be required to amortise".

The issue arises in circumstances where after the parties have shared the product of their marital endeavours the wife (it is usually the wife) has capital in...

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