Court orders husband to increase payments to wife who lost the bulk of her divorce settlement with 'poor financial decisions'
Maria Mills received a £230,000 lump sum from ex-husband Graham alongside maintenance payments of £1,100 a month. She has since lost the bulk of her divorce settlement by investing unwisely in "upmarket London Properties".
Judges at London's Appeal Court have now ordered that Mrs Mills's monthly payments are increased to £1,1441 to support her for life to meet her basic needs.
Mr Mills claimed that he "should not pick up the tab" and be the "insurer against his wife's poor financial decisions" 15 years after they split. His Barrister is calling for a change in the law to limit maintenance and encourage independence after divorce.
The couple who have a grown up son, married in 1998 and separated in 2001, reaching a financial agreement in 2002. Mr Mills agreed to give his wife £1,100 a month for maintenance as well as almost all their liquid capital.
The pair went before a family judge last year, the wife asking for more maintenance after she used it all on property and the husband seeking a clean break.
The Court ordered that the husband pay maintenance in the sum of £1,441 a month until further order of the court. The judge said "the husband has and had the ability to make the maintenance payments asked for."
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