Attempt to increase divorce settlement backfires - 30/03/2011

The estranged wife of a former banker turned schoolmaster has lost her bid to significantly increase her husband's £4.17 million settlement offer. The American couple who cannot be identified met in 1993 when the husband was a high flying banker and already a wealthy man. They eventually married and the wife established a level of spending that her husband was uncomfortable with. In 2007 the husband gave up his £1.5 million p.a. salary to become a £52,000 p.a. schoolmaster preferring a more rewarding occupation, however his wife's level of spending did not diminish, resulting in a large deficit.

Whilst the wife didn't mind her husband leaving the London office of a Scandinavian bank she did object to him seeking work outside the banking profession and believed he deliberately shunned sizeable earning capacity. She instigated divorce proceedings in November 2009 and when rejecting the settlement offer extended by her husband she said that he should share his pre-marriage assets as the potential £4.8 million half share of their joint assets was "...barely enough to meet her reasonable needs..." as she had become accustomed to a certain standard of living.

The judge decided that no criticism could be levelled at the husband for seeking a more satisfying and happier career and that the husband had conducted the litigation fairly, he concluded that the husband could keep £1 million of his pre-marital wealth, minus £250,000 for school fees, and the balance was to be split 50/50 leaving the wife with a small uplift of £67,000.

A dose of "real world" vision should be introduced before a spouse seeks to increase an already large settlement or it will end in tears.

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