Who got how much is not known, but a 50/50 split is a fair bet.
Up to that point they seem to have seen eye to eye on the carve-up.
But Christine also wanted half of an $8 million, five-year restraint of trade agreement her ex-husband entered into with the buyer of Nutra-Life.
The Family Court said she was not entitled to any of it because it was not matrimonial or relationship property - it was Mike's personal property.
High Court Justice Pamela Andrews agreed up to a point, saying the $8 million was his personal property, but went on to exercise her discretion to treat part of the payment as relationship property.
Justice Andrews considered there was some connection between the $8 million and efforts made during the marriage - presumably Christine's role as mother and housekeeper.
The judge reckoned there was insufficient evidence for her to figure out how much of the $8 million Christine should get and called for further evidence to be admitted - a ruling Mike challenged successfully in the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal upheld the original Family Court ruling that the $8 million was Mike's separate personal property and dismissed Christine's cross-appeal that it was not.
Undeterred, Christine sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, which heard her argument last month.
The question was whether the Court of Appeal was right to find that Mike's $8 million restraint of trade covenant was not relationship property under section 8(1)(e) or section 8(1)(l) of the Property (Relationships) Act; and in the alternative, should not be treated as relationship property under section 9(4)(a) of the act.
The Supreme Court's reserved decision, due any day, is awaited anxiously - not only by the primary players, but by legions of hard-working, deserving folk who might find themselves in similar circumstances.
Needless to say, a multi-million dollar matrimonial squabble of this magnitude brought out rival Queen's Counsel Divorce Duchesses Lady Deborah Chambers (who represents Mike) and Anne Hinton (who represents Christine).
Only a few days after December's crucial Supreme Court hearing, Hinton - who has been lawyering for 37 years - was appointed a High Court judge to sit in Auckland where she will be sworn in soon.
While her worthy appointment will no doubt bring a new dimension to the deliberations of the High Court, it leaves a huge gap in the bloody cockpit of rich folk's divorce wars.
Top judges reveal all
The Supreme Court delivered 28 publicly available decisions on 30 appeals last year, allowing 16 appeals, according to a breakdown published by the New Zealand Law Society.
Judges were unanimous in 19 of the 30 decisions (63 per cent).
Five decisions were split four to one and six split three to two.
In a related story, the highest courts in six common law jurisdictions during 2014 allowed an average of 53 per cent of appeals for which they have released decisions.
Appeals are most likely to be successful in the United States (75 per cent) and least likely in Canada (35.7 per cent).
In Australia they have a 57.5 per cent chance of success; New Zealand 53.3 per cent, Britain 50 per cent and at the Privy Council 50 per cent.
• See bit.ly/1B9g2JL for further details.
Some things that happened while we were away
Michelle Kidd. Photo / Greg Bowker
• Vulcan Lane has been cheerfully lawyer-free but that is about to change.
• Criminal Bar Association members rallied round with cash to keep Auckland court social worker Michelle Kidd in her much-needed job after she was made redundant on the eve of Christmas. Read more here: bit.ly/1BXhZKU
• Acting chief legal counsel at the Justice Ministry, Tania Warburton, will use her Corporate Lawyers Association $10,000 research scholarship to research the delivery of legal services to the Crown.
As the first winner of the scholarship, she will also attend Harvard Law School's leadership in corporate counsel programme and spend time in the Treasury Solicitor's office in London, where she will compare New Zealand's government in-house counsel model with Britain's.
• Korotangi Paki, 19, the second son of Maori King Tuheitia, was ordered by High Court judge Mark Woolford to be convicted and discharged on a drink driving offence committed in October 2013.
In a bewildering move which some folk believed was manifestly wrong, Paki -- who dropped his bid for name suppression -- was let off charges of burglary, theft and drink-driving by Auckland judge Philippa Cunningham last July after his lawyer claimed a conviction would ruin his chances of becoming king.
• Born of Ashburton farming stock, Sir Ivor Lloyd Morgan Richardson, 84, a former president of the Court of Appeal and a judge for 37 years, died on December 29 after a distinguished judicial career.
Sir Ivor's specialty was tax law, and he made a major contribution in that field, including constructing the generic tax policy process and many other important recommendations which produced long-term benefits for tax policy and administration.
A full obituary can be found at: bit.ly/1B9fd3G.
• Many congratulations were heaped on uncompromising defence barrister Sir Peter Aldridge Williams, QC, made a knight companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his lifetime service to the law.
His mates gathered at his home on New Year's Day to wish the 80-year-old well and tell stories, some of which are best left unrepeated.
For more from Jock Anderson's CaseLoad: tinyurl.com/pcjzw5b
