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[Canucksaram]

Here is another reason Western men don't wish to marry women from the same culture, and I hope to God the judges rule against her:


30 years after her divorce, ex wins �200,000 more
By STEVE DOUGHTY - More by this author � Last updated at 01:20am on 28th June 2007

Comments Comments (44)

A millionaire was ordered to pay his adulterous wife more than �200,000 - nearly 30 years after they were divorced.

Builder Dennis North's wife Jean left him and their three children for another man in 1977.

They divorced the following year and in 1981 they reached a settlement which saw him give her their house and the income from rents on other properties.

But now Mrs North, who has never worked, has fallen on hard times after losing money in a series of bad investments.

Mr North, 70, has been ordered by a court to hand her another �202,000.

The order follows a series of big-money divorce cases which have swung the law against husbands and resulted in huge payments to ex-wives even after short childless marriages.

The North case now threatens to make husbands pay large sums even decades after a split.

Three Appeal Court judges had heard Mr North's lawyers call for the payment to be stopped.

His barrister, Philip Moor QC, said 61-year-old Mrs North was trying to get "a second bite at the cherry".

He added: "The whole purpose of divorce is to disentangle people so they can lead independent lives.

"The changes in financial positions of the parties since 1981 and the differential between them that has arisen over the years cannot be relevant."

The court heard that Mrs North moved to Australia in 1999 and lost much of her money in "unfortunate" investments said to have been based on bad advice.

Mr Moor said it had been her decision to sell up and move to one of the most desirable and expensive areas of Sydney and live beyond her means in a country where she was not entitled to benefits.

If she had stayed in England she would have been comfortably off for the rest of her life.

Her ex-husband, by contrast, has prospered. Mr North, who lives in a six-bedroom stone house on the edge of the Peak District, has now retired with a fortune estimated at between �5million and �11million.

The award against him stems from part of the divorce settlement which involved "nominal" maintenance payments.

Existing law says that whenever one party in a divorce is paying maintenance, either one has the right to ask a court to replace it with a "clean break" lump sum.

Mrs North, who now lives in Leeds, was awarded the �202,000 by a district judge last year. The ruling was later upheld in the High Court.

Mr Moor said the order "penalised those who behave responsibly".

But Deborah Bangay, QC, for Mrs North, said: "This was not a second bite at the cherry but it is what are her reasonable needs. The court was entitled to take into account the obvious wealth of the former husband."

She said it was not Mrs North's fault that her investments had gone wrong. The district judge's award had been at the "bottom end of the spectrum".

The judges, Lord Justice Thorpe, Lord Justice May and Mr Justice Bennett, reserved their judgment.

Mr North, who has remarried and has two children with his second wife, refused to comment afterwards.

But divorce lawyers said Mrs North's settlement stretched existing law to breaking point.

Caroline Wright of Boodle Hatfield said: "Legal principles say that if maintenance is being paid either party can ask for a lump sum. But these are extreme circumstances."

Julian Lipson of Withers said: "The law is supposed to stop people having a second bite at the cherry. I think the husband has a strong case."

Wives who have benefited from huge recent divorce settlements include Beverley Charman, awarded �48million of her husband's fortune in May, and Melissa Miller, who won �5million of her husband's �30million wealth even though her marriage lasted only three years and there were no children.

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=464722&in_page_id=1770

[Yo!Chingo]

It's people like this that truly make me hoping mad. She left her husband and family for another man and still got $? Then 20 years later she's broke and decides that she wants more. She got waaaay more than she deserved the 1st go around! I say ignore the court order and make her really fight for it!!! Say till she's completely destitute! I would even go to jail to smite the byach.

[safeblad]

Only in Americ.........WHAT!?

[Flash Ipanema]

Clearly this woman is a money-grupbbing b*itch, but please don't let this thread degenerate into another "Western women are the Devil" threads. This is one outrageous case, and does not represent all women.

I think the larger problem is that the legal system is set up to allow this kind of thing to happen. I think alimony and, in this case "maintenance payments", are just odd. I suppose back when women didn't work and a couple got divorced alimony payments allowed a woman to not end up on the streets, but the times have a'changed. Also, people all over the world seek to take advantage when they can, and unfortunately a very common place that happens is in the courtroom. People figure if there's a chance they can get "free" money, they'll give it a shot, now matter how un-entitled they are (is that a word?).

[Alyallen]

[Satori]

I love this quote from Zza Zza Gabor ...

"Im a great house-keeper. Every time I get divorced I keep the house."

[SuperFly]

The following picture is only a joke, it is not how I feel. Anyone who takes it seriously should seek professional help before attacking me.

[storysinger81]

Oh my god, doggy! I can't believe you'd have the gall to post something so obviously insulting and demeaning. You are a horrible puppy. I mean really... what are you trying to say about the sexes? You ought to be ashamed of yourself!

Anyone who thinks that men should have to carry umbrellas for women when it is not even RAINING outside??? That's just sick and demeaning to even suggest such poppeyc*ck.

...

Now I'm off to the therapist...

[SuperFly]

[Leslie Cheswyck]