This week’s Court of Appeal hearing that Julie Sharp, who earned millions of pounds a year in salary and bonuses as an energy trader, is fighting a court decision to award her former husband, Robin Sharp, a large proportion of their £6.9m fortune.

This latest divorce case is seeking to challenge a longstanding “sharing principle” in the courts, in which assets acquired during a marriage are equally split between the couple. Mr and Ms Sharp were married for four years, and Ms Sharp’s lawyers argue that all the wealth stemmed from Ms Sharp, dividing the assets equally was unfair because they had experienced a “short, childless, dual career marriage”.

Hetty Gleave, Partner in the Family department at Hunters Solicitors, said the case highlighted the need for a “flowers, dress, pre-nup” conversation before marriage. “This is particularly important for couples with significant pre-existing assets and established careers, where one of the parties is likely to be making a greater financial contribution to the marriage than the other,” she added.

Read the full article, via the Financial Times, here.