A husband has been ordered by the Courts to pay his ex-wife a lump sum so that he can stop making annual payments from his income once he has retired.

The case involved a couple who had been married for 22 years before getting divorced in 2005. Both were qualified accountants, but the wife gave up her career to raise their children.

In 2005 they agreed a settlement which provide for the wife to retain the family home, receive an annual maintenance payment from the husband of £90,000, which was later increased to £150,000.

The husband then re-married and started a family with his new wife. He then found out that his new wife had terminal cancer, so he planned to raise his children himself after his retirement.

The husband wished to cease making annual maintenance payments to his ex-wife. His ex-wife agreed but only on the basis that she received a final lump sum. It was his ex-wife’s position that she had sacrificed her professional career for the sake of the family when the two were married.

The man argued that the £2.7m in assets his ex-wife now possessed should be enough to provide for her for the rest of her life.

The court ordered the man to make a final lump sum payment to his ex-wife in order to achieve a ‘clean break’ for both.

The judge acknowledged that the ex-wife had been treated fairly so far, but pointed out that she must also be treated fairly in this final settlement. It was estimated that she required an annual income of £80,000, of which her estate would provide about £55,000.

The husband was ordered to pay a lump sum of £400,000, which would provide the extra annual income she required based on a reasonable prediction of her life expectancy.

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