Big parental gift - returned well prior to separation

First time poster with a long post. Please can you help me understand how a judge is likely to treat the following significant parental gift received by me, but subsequently returned well prior to separation:

Long marriage, Separated Aug 2020, form E exchange Feb 2022. Marital assets £800,000. Roughly split 50/50 ownership already. I am unemployed with a medical condition. She is employed but with very modest income. No matrimonial home. One child, I am the primary carer. I am over 50, she over 40. No significant pensions.

One of my parents sent me significant gift via two wire transfers to my account just under three years ago. I returned the gifts in the middle of 2019 via a single transfer from the same account back to the same parent. The size of the gift (and amount returned by me to the same parent) was over £150k but under £200k. My bank statements would show all the transfers, in and out.

My parent sent me the funds as I was at risk and facing imminent redundancy at the time. I returned the funds as I have never accepted a penny from my parents and wanted to sort my financial issues independently. My parents (age 90 and 80 with dementia) will not get involved with our divorce proceedings and will ignore any requests for supporting statements or information.

I can make a convincing argument and show evidence that in the middle of 2019, we were still happily married (in my view at least!) and I had no motive to dissipate assets. I have in fact even sent her significant wire transfers to her account AFTER the separation, in an attempt to win her back.

How is a judge likely to rule in this situation? Would the returned funds be treated as dissipation and added back to my assets?

Hmm. If this was an unsolicited gift to you which was returned without ever being part of family funds then I would suggest that it was a: non matrimonial and b: not a resource that is available to you now.
No doubt there will be arguments raised about your motivation in returning the funds. In the absence of hard evidence such as a letter explaining the return or a track record of similar actions, it may come down to who is most believable. At the end of the day though the funds were not yours in the first place so I am not sure if this is something that meets the criteria for dissipation.
Best to just be completely transparent and see what a judge thinks if it comes to that.

Hadenoughnow

Thank you hadenoughnow for your prompt and helpful response.

Thank you hadenoughnow for your prompt and helpful response.