In a family law case that went to trial in January this year [Newman (2013)] the husband argued that his unusually high earnings throughout his 28 year marriage should be treated as “special contributions”.
The husbands total earnings over the marriage were “outside the normal range” exceeding 11 million dollars, a sum that averages out to about $400,000 per year. However, the court decided that husband was only able to accumulate such wealth due to skills he had developed over the course of the marriage.
“I infer the husband was able to develop these skills having been substantially freed by the wife from the primary role of homemaker and parent…. the role of homemaker and parent should be recognised not in a tokenistic way but in a substantial way”