Test case may offer a way out for "meal ticket" former spouses - 08/04/2011

Former banker Robert Norman is seeking to sever all financial ties with his "dogged and determined" ex-wife who seems to regard him as an indefinite meal ticket by her alleged clear unwillingness to work. Initially Mrs. Norman was awarded a maintenance package of £1,000 per month to end in 2009 when it was presumed that she would have found a job and be self sufficient.

During a series of court hearings where Mrs. Norman sought to increase and lengthen the maintenance package it became apparent that, as the judge remarked she "...appeared to think that her husband indefinitely owed her and her children a meal ticket..." The Judge decided to award £12,000 per year instead of the £48,000 sought by Mrs. Norman with the payments ending in April next year. The case has been ordered to go before a full Appeal Court.

A victory for Mr. Norman would doubtless see a flood of cases, mainly brought by ex-husbands, attempting to disentangle themselves from their work-shy ex-wives. Current thinking leans towards a "clean break" for divorcing husbands and wives enabling everyone to move forwards and make a new life free from encumbrance. The date for the full Appeal has yet to be set.

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