Maintenance is no longer for life. So how are the courts currently dealing with maintenance issues?
This is an interesting case which will concern wives, delight husbands and highlights that the approach nationwide is not at all consistent.
A high-profile divorce ruling scrapping future payments signifies a sea change in how courts regard maintenance, according to a leading family lawyer.
In a case dubbed the ‘meal ticket for life’, the Court of Appeal this week ruled that maintenance payments for Kim Waggott from her ex-husband should end after three years.
The 49-year-old had been awarded a settlement of £9.76m and £175,000 in annual maintenance payments for life, after she was divorced from her multimillionaire husband William in 2012.
She had asked the court to approve an increase in annual payments, but he challenged the original award.
Sitting in the appeal court, Lord Justice Moylan said Mrs Waggott could make up the shortfall from losing her annual payments by investing around 10% of her initial payment and using the interest. Moylan ruled that payments should stop from March 2021.
The judge added: ‘Any extension of the sharing principle to post separation earnings would fundamentally undermine the court’s ability to effect a clean break.’
Continue reading article on Law Gazette’s website.
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