Ayesha Vardag spoke to the Evening Standard following a decision by Lord Justice Pitchford, who told a wife she had no right to be supported for life by her former husband.
The case concerned a racehorse surgeon who had been ordered to pay his wife and children £75,000 per year in maintenance and school fees. Approaching retirement, he applied to the court to have the settlement reduced, arguing that it was unfair to expect him to support his ex-wife, when she made no effort to seek work.
The court agreed with his argument, ordering that personal maintenance payments to the wife must cease. This decision was then endorsed by the Court of Appeal.
Speaking to the paper, Ayesha said “This reflects a shift in the zeitgeist towards mothers being expected to get back into the workplace after divorce. In a needs case, there’s no gravy train for life. The reality is that parents work now, male and female, and everyone’s supposed to pull their weight as soon as possible Unless the family’s swimming in millions, the luxury of the stay-at-home Mummy is fast being confined to history.”
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