Barrister’s Wife Awarded Lump Sum 25 Years After Divorce

by Katy Murcutt - Paralegal

01 April 2010, filed under Divorce

The ex-wife of a successful barrister was awarded a lump sum of £215,000 yesterday, twenty-five years after the couple divorced.

Ex-wife Philippa Vaughan successfully disputed her divorce rights by arguing that she had incurred undue hardship after her annual maintenance payments of £27,175 ceased when David Vaughan QC retired last year. David Vaughan had paid maintenance to his ex-wife each year since 1991 after their divorce in 1985 and had requested permission from the High Court to cease the payments upon his retirement.

The Court of Appeal ruled that Philippa Vaughan, who does not earn an independent income, should instead receive a lump sum.  The ex-wife requested that all assets to be taken into account, including a pension scheme Mr Vaughan had put in place with his second wife.

Nicholas Mostyn QC, representing David Vaughan, stated that the impact of all assets being taken into consideration for payment of the lump sum was unreasonable and would be equal to the second wife contributing towards the maintenance of first wife.

Lord Justice Wilson of the Family Division stated that Philippa Vaughan would have been unable to adjust to the termination of the maintenance payments without hardship due to the abrupt manner in which the payments ceased. Further to this, Lord Justice Wilson said that, in his opinion, the judge should not have assumed that half of the pension income belonged to the second wife as, although the second wife has contributed greatly to and maintained the pension fund, the fund was set up during the course of the marriage to first wife, Phillippa Vaughan.

After the hearing, Philippa Vaughan stated that the maintenance order had provided her with a vital income for life.

The court found that it was unreasonable for Mr Vaughan to set aside the maintenance order and cease all payments to his first wife on the basis he no longer wished to pay upon his retirement. Philippa Vaughan had originally claimed for a lump sum divorce settlement of £560,000 from her ex-husband, which was then reduced to just over £340,000. Her final reward of £215,000 will be paid by the end of July this year.