Charman is the chief executive officer of insurer Axis Capital Holdings Ltd. and was married to his wife Beverley for 29 years before separating in 2005. Beverley will get a tidy 40 million-pound lump sum payment, which represents only 37 percent of the couple’s assets.
English law uses a 50-50 guideline when approaching divorce cases but felt “that because Charman had built his fortune from scratch, he was entitled to a greater share of their joint assets.” They were married in 1976 years before “he built a fortune in the Lloyd's of London insurance market in the 1980s and 1990s.”
This story brings up the interesting and controversial topic of how much one spouse has to do with the business success of the other spouse. Would Charman have been able to build a multi-million dollar company without his wife in his life? Did she add certain intangibles that are not so easy to pin down? Such as support and encouragement during the difficult times of building his business empire.
What is your take on this issue?
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