By Paul Hunt, partner and head of the family department at Kirwans Solicitors:

It is not unusual for people involved in relationship breakdown to complain that their hearts have been broken. However it is unusual for other internal organs to form the subject of a dispute.

The media has recently focused attention on an American husband who, in the process of his divorce, has stated that he wishes the kidney which he donated to his estranged wife to be returned to him or that he should receive contribution in excess of $1,000,000.

Inevitably this tends to go in the category of ‘bizarre news stories’. One can understand however that the husband would feel that the sacrifice he has made for his wife has been poorly repaid.

One cannot however imagine a court imposing an order upon the parties to a divorce which would commit them to potentially life threatening surgery so the real issue is whether this should have an impact upon any financial settlement.

If the matter were being considered by the courts here then there would be an argument donating a kidney is a more extreme form of a gift made during the marriage. These things happen when all is going well and gifts are not generally made conditional upon the relationship continuing.

There could be an argument however that the donation of a kidney to save the lift of the other spouse could represent as significant contribution which could be taken in to account by the court under the current legislation as one of the factors in determining the division of assets.

A more immediate practical issue however would be the potential effect of this transplant upon the health of the parties and their employment and earning capacity. If a spouse who had donated a kidney suffered from health problems as a direct result which prevented him or her from pursuing a career then this would be a very real factor to be taken in to consideration and not merely an entertaining diversion from the generally grim news on our TV screens at the moment.