Dear Member,

The answer to your question will depend by much on the overall circumstances about the marriage including matters such as the nature and value of the property brought into the marriage, how it was used during the marriage (e.g. by that person exclusively or for the joint benefit of the couple), the current size of the property pool, and a whole further checklist of criteria to do with your current and future circumstances.

However, as a broad rule of thumb or guideline, the longer the duration of a marriage, the less weight and relevance the initial financial contribution will be. So, after a period of 17 years, the impact of the contribution may be quite negligible and have relatively little effect on the division, particularly if the value of the property was quite small in the first place. This is because there has been "too much water under the bridge" for the initial contribution to remain very significant. However, this really will depend on the particular circumstances, because no two cases in family law are ever identical, and there is always an inherent degree of discretion involved in any decision-making.