Irish divorce law does not divide assets in half. It requires that proper provision is made for both spouses and any dependent children. Everything else follows from that phrase.
There is no 50/50 rule in Ireland
This is the single most common misunderstanding, usually imported from coverage of English or American cases.
Irish law asks a different question: what provision is proper, in this case, for these people. Sometimes that produces something close to an even split. Frequently it does not.
What the court weighs
Proper provision is assessed against the circumstances of the case, including the income and assets each of you has and is likely to have, your respective needs and obligations, your standard of living during the marriage, your ages and the length of the marriage, any contribution one of you made to the other's earning capacity, and the contribution of a spouse who worked in the home.
The home-making contribution counts
A spouse who raised children and ran the household is treated as having contributed to the assets, even where every euro was earned by the other. This is settled and it matters enormously to the outcome.
Where the assets exceed what either spouse could reasonably need, the question changes. It stops being about meeting needs and becomes about what is proper between these two people given everything that happened during the marriage.
That is why big-money cases are unpredictable and why they cost what they cost. There is no formula to apply, so both sides argue from principle, and principle takes hearing days.
Divorce in Ireland does not fully close the door
Unlike some jurisdictions, an Irish divorce does not always produce a clean break. Provision can in certain circumstances be revisited.
Related reading: when a divorce goes to the High Court, business assets in an Irish divorce, inherited wealth, trusts and assets abroad, pensions in an Irish divorce and our guide to property and assets.
Talk to us
Proper provision is decided on the facts of your case. A conversation about your own circumstances is more useful than any general guide, and ours is free.