A judge has reduced a husband’s spousal maintenance payments after ruling that his former wife’s claimed financial needs were excessive and that she was receiving income from other sources.

District Judge Hatvany made the decision during a final hearing where both parties applied to enforce and vary a financial order first made in 2012.

The wife had sought to enforce arrears of £16,881, claiming the husband had failed to apply annual Retail Price Index (RPI) increases to the £2,000 monthly maintenance payments. But the husband argued he had overpaid by covering additional costs including the wife’s private health insurance, dental plan and mobile phone bills.

The judge dismissed the wife’s claim for arrears, stating the husband’s spreadsheet evidence was largely unchallenged and showed that the payments he made exceeded the amounts he was ordered to pay.

He also declined to grant permission to pursue arrears older than 12 months, saying there was no reason why this permission should be granted in the circumstances of this case.

The husband applied to have the arrears remitted and the spousal maintenance order ended altogether, citing a change in circumstances. He has remarried and is supporting a new family, while the wife is nearing retirement age and receiving income from pensions and a solar farm.

While the wife claimed she needed over £5,000 per month, Judge Hatvany assessed her reasonable needs at £3,000. He noted she lived in a mortgage-free property and said: “This does seem excessive given that the wife lives in a mortgage free property and only has herself to support.”

The judge ordered that maintenance payments should fall to £1,000 per month to reflect the wife’s new income, which will include state and private pensions as well as £8,000 notional income from the solar farm.

The judge urged the parties to consider a Duxbury capitalisation to bring the case to an end, warning of the risk of further litigation.

“I am concerned that there has been no finality… and that it has not been possible to implement the clean break principle,” he said.

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Source:

Husband’s payments reduced after judge finds wife’s needs overstated
GH and IH
Bristol Financial Remedies Court, sitting at Swindon
District Judge Hatvany
10 April 2025