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The Irish Sun
03-07-2025
- Business
- The Irish Sun
Sheep farmer's ex-wife LOSES battle over £80MILLION ‘gift' he gave her for kids… after she divorced him & kept cash
A SHEEP farmer's ex-wife has lost a five-year legal battle to keep half of a £80million sum he gave her as part of a tax avoidance scheme. Clive Standish, 72, transferred the multi-million pound gift to his former partner Anna in 2017, with the intention of eventually placing the money in an offshore trust for their children. Advertisement 5 Clive Standish will keep the majority of an £80million gift he gave his wife Credit: Central News 5 It was initially decided by the High Court that Anna should receive half of the funds Credit: Champion News Clive, a former chief financial officer at UBS, made the decision to move the funds over to his Australian wife to exploit her non-dom status and avoid a crippling 40% inheritance-tax rate. The former banker believed he would face a bill of about £32 million if he died with the money in his name. But the pair's 15 year marriage later hit the rocks and divorce proceedings began in 2020 with the assets still in her name. It was initially decided by the High Court in 2023 that Anna, 57, should receive half of the funds in the settlement. Advertisement Read more News But last year, the Court of Appeal ruled that her share should be reduced from half to £25million. The amount was judged to fairly represent her contribution to raising the children and looking after their home. And despite Anna's recent attempts to overturn the decision, the ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court yesterday. Five judges argued that the sum was not a marital asset because it had not been shared by the couple and Mr Standish had intended it for their children. Advertisement Most read in The Sun Exclusive Exclusive The ruling said: 'Tax planning schemes to save tax, involving transfers of assets from one spouse to another, are commonplace. 'The problem for the wife is that there is nothing to show that, over time, the parties were treating the 2017 assets as shared between them. 'Rather, the transfer was in pursuance of a scheme to negate inheritance tax and it was for the benefit exclusively of the children. 'The parties' intention was that the £80 million should not be retained by the wife.' Advertisement Fresh twist in Eamonn Holmes & Ruth Langsford's divorce as celeb pair battle over £3.6m home His wife never established two offshore trusts as he had expected, so Clive was judged to be the sole owner of those assets when divorce proceedings began. Lord Faulks, representing Anna, tried to argue that the money had become shared property after the initial transfer, adding that she had contributed by accepting the gift. Mr Standish moved to Australia in 1976 and married Anna in December 2005, before the pair moved to the UK five years later. The couple lived together at Moundsmere Manor, an 18-bedroom mansion near Preston Candover, Hampshire. Advertisement Clive's laywer, Tim Bishop KC, explained that in June 2004 his client was worth £57.3 million, while Anna had 'no significant pre-marital wealth'. The marital assets at the time of the split amounted to £132million, almost all of which had come from Clive's initial fortune. Mr Bishop added: "The husband made the transfers in March 2017, but the wife failed to transfer the assets into trust by the time the marriage ran into problems in 2019 and then broke down finally in 2020". Delivering the Supreme Court ruling, Lord Burrows and Lord Stephens agreed with the Court of Appeal's verdict. Advertisement 5 The pair lived together at Moundsmere Manor in Hampshire Credit: Champion News Service 5 Clive moved the funds over to his Australian wife to avoid inheritance-tax Credit: Champion News Service Ltd They said: "There was no matrimonialisation of the 2017 assets because the transfer was to save tax and it was for the benefit of the children not the wife. "The 2017 assets were not, therefore, being treated by the husband and wife for any period of time as an asset that was shared between them. Advertisement "Transfers of capital assets with the intention of saving tax do not, without some further compelling evidence, establish that the parties are treating the capital asset as shared between them. "The 2017 assets comprise the husband's pre-marital assets and earnings that the husband made in the years 2004-2007, to which the wife contributed by being the home-maker and child carer during those years. "In relation to a scheme designed to save tax, under which one spouse transfers an asset to the other spouse, the parties' dealings with the asset do not normally show that the asset is being treated as shared between them. "Rather, the intention is simply to save tax." Advertisement 5 Anna's share following the Supreme Court ruling will stay at £25million Credit: Champion News
Scottish Sun
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
The Voice star gives birth to second baby and shares first pic – amid legal battle with brother
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE Voice UK star Bo Bruce has given birth to her second child as she shared a sweet photo cradling her baby girl. The TV star announced her happy news in a touching post on Instagram but is yet to reveal her child's name. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 7 Aristocratic singer Bo Bruce has given birth to her second child Credit: Instagram 7 The Voice star shared the news with a touching photo online of her newborn Credit: Instagram 7 She took her brother Thomas, a viscount, to court in 2022 and won - but has launched a new High Court action listed as 'dispute(s) relating to trust property' Credit: Champion News Bo, 40, penned: "Look who decided to show up" adding the hashtag #hibernatingtilspring The Voice UK runner up, who appeared on the talent show in 2012, also shared photos of her newborn in a pink babygrow and matching pink bib at a garden party with friends. Bo married Henry Binns, one half of the electronic music duo Zero 7, in 2016 and the couple welcomed a son into the world a year later. It comes as Bo, whose full name is Lady Catherine Brudenell-Bruce, is taking her brother to the High Court again after winning a legal dispute over their inheritance in 2022. The Aristocratic singer entered a bitter £2m inheritance battle with her "extremely wealthy" brother Thomas, a viscount, nearly ten years after their mum died. Thomas had failed to sell their family home and Judge Deputy Master John Linwood said in 2022 the viscount "ignored his responsibilities" to his sister as executor of the will. The court heard that Bo and her brother grew up on the family's historic Savernake Estate, near Marlborough, Wiltshire. The estate has been in the family since it was gifted to the Brudenell-Bruces' ancestors by William the Conqueror and has passed down through the generations in an unbroken line ever since. The Grade-I listed 92,000 square feet Tottenham House, which has 100 rooms, was at its centre, but has more recently been used as a prep school and by a charity, before being sold for £11.5m in 2015. Both siblings were brought up at Savernake Lodge, another substantial property on the estate, before moving into Leigh Hill House with their mum after their parents' divorce in 2009. I sued my sister after she splurged our inheritance Bo's barrister, Steven Ball, told the judge that relations had been "fairly amicable" between the siblings in the aftermath of their mum's death and she had wanted the house to stay in the family. But the court then heard that she changed her mind in 2015, emailing her brother and his representatives in a 'desperate need for money.' Thomas did not want the house to be sold to a stranger, and agreed he would continue living there and pay £20,000-a-year rent to his sister to reflect her half ownership. He claimed that he would ultimately buy her out of her share, and gave her regular loans to help cover her living expenses and £11,000 towards her wedding. However in the years following he did nothing to progress to buying her out or selling the property, which resulted in her feeling 'locked into ownership' of the property which was her 'only financial security.' Bo criticised the traditional system of male primogeniture, which favours male heirs in inheritance matters, describing it as "archaic" and "sexist". The siblings' father, the Earl of Cardigan, who was estranged from Bo, attended the two-day trial in 2022. Three years on, Thomas is still registered as the owner of the property, and Bo has launched a new High Court action listed as 'dispute(s) relating to trust property'. Bo shot to fame in 2012 after finishing as a runner-up on The Voice UK, going on to sign for Mercury Records and releasing Top 10 album Before I Sleep in 2013. She also performed at V Festival and T in the Park. She released album Bones Of Man in 2016 and it reached the No.1 spot on the electronic album charts. 7 Bo shared photos from a family party after giving birth Credit: Instagram 7 Her dad, Lord Cardigan did not attend his daughter's wedding in 2016 7 Bo Bruce on The Voice Credit: Planet Photos
