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Court Upholds Appeal Against Life-Long Maintenance Payments

26 April 2018 Written by Davidson Shirley Solicitors Category: Family Law

A woman has lost her right to receive life-long maintenance payments from her ex-husband, following a landmark decision by the Court of Appeal in England. 

The case concerned Kim Waggott and her multimillionaire ex-husband William, reports the Telegraph. The couple had been married for 21 years and had one child together. Following the breakup of their marriage, Mrs Waggott received a divorce settlement that included a lump sum of around £10 million and annual maintenance payments of £175,000, which were to be payable for life.

However, this was not to be the end of the matter. Unhappy with the size of her maintenance payments, Mrs Waggott went back to court to apply for them to be increased by £23,000 a year.

Mr Waggott was also unhappy with the initial divorce settlement, and appealed against the fact that he was required to give his wife maintenance payments for life. He argued that this removed any financial incentive for his wife to return to work – she had previously worked as a finance controller – while he was expected to keep working.

The Court of Appeal has now ruled in his favour, finding that the maintenance payments should be stopped after a further three years, so as to allow Mr Waggot a ‘clean break’ from his ex-wife. Mrs Waggott’s application for an enhanced payment was rejected.

The judge noted that Mrs Waggott could consider investing part of her lump sum payment to provide additional income and also had the option of returning to work if necessary.

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