Alison Sharland received £10m from her ex-husband when they divorced, believing it was half his fortune, before coming to the conclusion that his Manchester software company was worth many more millions of pounds.

Varsha Gohil settled for £270,000 plus a car from her former husband, Bhadresh, in 2004 but it later became clear that her husband, who was tried and jailed for fraud and money-laundering sums of up to £37m, had not given the court accurate information about his finances.

The Supreme Court is now in the final stages of reaching a decision in this well publicised cases of Sharland v Sharland and Gohil v Gohil. Alison Sharland and Varsha Gohil are seeking to set aside their divorce settlements on the basis that they were deliberately misled by their husbands at the time of the original proceedings as to the true extent of assets available.

The outcome, expected in September 2015, will act as a precedent on how dishonesty is treated in family proceedings and it is hoped that the Court will offer clearer guidance on how to achieve fairness where it is proved that one party has deliberately misled the other and failed to provide full and frank financial disclosure.

For further advice on divorce and separation contact a member of our Family Law team.