Court victory for divorcee

A woman won a landmark court battle today over a divorce settlement which was slashed when her former husband went bankrupt.

Wendy Haines, aged 43, has been allowed to keep cash which trustees had claimed to pay off her ex-husband's debts.

She thought she had achieved a "clean break" from her "hopelessly insolvent" husband David when she walked away with their former matrimonial home, near Stourport.

In return for keeping her £500,000 five-bedroom home at Strudges Farm, Dunhampton, Mrs Haines agreed her ex should pay her maintenance of just five pence per year.

But her former husband David declared himself bankrupt a year later and the trustees in bankruptcy claimed the transfer of the proceeds from Strudges Farm, Dunhampton, near Stourport.

The house has been sold since the divorce, although Mrs Haines retained part of the land around it.

The divorcee, who owned a garage business with her husband on the Hoo Farm Industrial Estate, Kidderminster, was faced by the trustees' demands for half of the sale proceeds after the mortgage was paid off – about £120,000 – to pay off her ex-husband's creditors.

The trustees were granted their wish in May but Mrs Haines' legal team challenged the decision in London's Civil Appeal Court. And today, the Chancellor of the High Court, Sir Andrew Morritt, Lord Justice Thorpe and Lord Justice Rix upheld her appeal, which challenged findings made under the Insolvency Act 1986.

Mrs Haines' lawyer, Mr Avtar Kanghure QC, said if the earlier ruling was allowed to stand it would mean divorcees would be at risk of having their assets seized if their former spouse was declared bankrupt for up to five years after a marriage break up was finalised.