This must suck.
Kathleen Wyatt wins right to take her former husband, wind farm entreprener Dale Vince, to court despite not lodging a claim until nearly 20 years after their divorce
The ex-wife of a former new-age traveller who later became multi-millionaire wind farm entrepreneur has been told she can bring a claim for financial support from his fortune more than 30 years after their marriage broke down.
Dale Vince, owner of the green energy provider Ecotricity, described the Supreme Court ruling as “mad” and said it would leave people “looking over our shoulders” for decades in case a former partner came after them for a share of money they made later in life.
Divorce lawyers described the ruling in favour of Kathleen Wyatt as “unprecedented” and said it meant spouses could keep their options open “indefinitely” before staking a claim.
But while some said it could “open the floodgates” to “many thousands” of divorces in which financial orders were never finalised being revisited, others said the “extraordinary circumstances” of the case meant it would have only limited implications.
Issuing the judgment, Lord Wilson, sitting with four other Supreme Court Justices, emphasised, crucially, that there is no time limit in law for spouses to make a claim for financial provision.
But he said Ms Wyatt’s case claim, which will now be heard by the Family Court, faces “formidable difficulties” because of her delay in making a claim and the fact that she played no part in his later success.
The court heard how the pair lived together as a couple for just over two years. They met in 1981 when Mr Vince was 19 while Ms Wyatt, who was two years older, already had a daughter, Emily, who is now 36.
They married that December and had a baby boy, Dane, in May 1983. But Mr Vince moved out the following year – although Ms Wyatt insists they did not finally separate until some years later.
He then embarked on eight years of travelling, first in old ambulance-turned-camper van, later switching to a converted fire engine, in which he drove to Spain, where he lived for a year with a new partner.
Ms Wyatt went on to have to more children with another man, living what the judgment describes as a “hand to mouth” existence on benefits and some earnings from low-paid jobs.
Read full article here
#GMB
Kathleen Wyatt wins right to take her former husband, wind farm entreprener Dale Vince, to court despite not lodging a claim until nearly 20 years after their divorce
The ex-wife of a former new-age traveller who later became multi-millionaire wind farm entrepreneur has been told she can bring a claim for financial support from his fortune more than 30 years after their marriage broke down.
Dale Vince, owner of the green energy provider Ecotricity, described the Supreme Court ruling as “mad” and said it would leave people “looking over our shoulders” for decades in case a former partner came after them for a share of money they made later in life.
Divorce lawyers described the ruling in favour of Kathleen Wyatt as “unprecedented” and said it meant spouses could keep their options open “indefinitely” before staking a claim.
But while some said it could “open the floodgates” to “many thousands” of divorces in which financial orders were never finalised being revisited, others said the “extraordinary circumstances” of the case meant it would have only limited implications.
Issuing the judgment, Lord Wilson, sitting with four other Supreme Court Justices, emphasised, crucially, that there is no time limit in law for spouses to make a claim for financial provision.
But he said Ms Wyatt’s case claim, which will now be heard by the Family Court, faces “formidable difficulties” because of her delay in making a claim and the fact that she played no part in his later success.
The court heard how the pair lived together as a couple for just over two years. They met in 1981 when Mr Vince was 19 while Ms Wyatt, who was two years older, already had a daughter, Emily, who is now 36.
They married that December and had a baby boy, Dane, in May 1983. But Mr Vince moved out the following year – although Ms Wyatt insists they did not finally separate until some years later.
He then embarked on eight years of travelling, first in old ambulance-turned-camper van, later switching to a converted fire engine, in which he drove to Spain, where he lived for a year with a new partner.
Ms Wyatt went on to have to more children with another man, living what the judgment describes as a “hand to mouth” existence on benefits and some earnings from low-paid jobs.
Read full article here
#GMB
