Last updated on August 13th, 2019 at 08:46 am
Bradie Pell, head of Graysons’ family team
In Mills v Mills, Maria Mills was awarded a lump sum of £230,000 to buy a house for her and her son and maintenance (in a joint lives maintenance order) of £1,100 a month when she was divorced from Graham Mills in 2002 after 15 years of marriage. Following a change of circumstances in 2015, Graham Mills applied to the court to reduce the monthly maintenance but his wife counter-argued that, as she had made a series of poor investments, she was now having to rent property and so the original maintenance no longer covered her needs. Her existing debts amounted to over £40,000 and she had a shortfall of over £4,000 a year between her existing maintenance and expenditure. She was awarded an increase to £1,441 a month by the Court of Appeal, and Graham Mills appealed that decision.
The Supreme Court has ruled that Graham Mills should continue to pay £1,100, but that there should be no increase.
Bradie Pell, head of Graysons’ family department says
“There has been a growing trend in the courts to rule against ex-spouses coming back for more money when they have already received an amount to meet capital needs. It is clear that courts are looking to bring an end to the ‘meal ticket for life’ awards of indefinite maintenance orders. The only real way to ensure that divorcees don’t keep coming back for more is with a clean break where it is possible.”
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