In general a wife will have rights in her husband’s business property acquired during the marriage, but not before. However, in exceptional circumstances , in long-established, harmonious marriages the wife may sometimes succeed in proving that the marital partnership in their property extends to business property owned by her husband prior to marriage. So the Supreme Court held in the nineties in a case involving a couple who had been happily married for nearly 40 years, and where the wife had contributed to the marital partnership by raising a family and looking after the home, and occasionally working outside it.