BRITAIN: Millionaire Arsenal footballer Ray Parlour lost an alimony battle yesterday after a court ruling that could have a significant impact on future high-income divorce cases in Britain.
Parlour (31) was ordered by the Court of Appeal to increase the amount he pays his ex-wife Karen to more than one third of his future income.
Karen Parlour, who was divorced from the midfielder in 2002, won her fight to have her £250,000 (€374,980) a year maintenance payout increased to £444,000 for herself and the couple's three children. Of that amount, £406,500 was allocated for her personal use.
The increase was in addition to a £250,000 lump sum and two mortgage-free houses that the 33-year-old had already been awarded in the couple's divorce settlement.
In a statement, Karen Parlour said she was "very relieved" at the outcome of the appeal.
Her lawyers had argued she had rescued the footballer's career and was entitled to more of his £1.2 million annual income.
Ray Parlour, who lives with another woman by whom he has a child, had argued his ex-wife was entitled to a yearly maintenance fee of only £120,000.
The three-judge panel ordered him to pay the increased amount for four years, after which it should be reconsidered because his income was "likely to plummet" when his career as a professional footballer ended.
The ruling is likely to affect thousands of high-income divorce cases in Britain by making a spouse's potential earnings a consideration in the settlement, legal experts said.
Currently, maintenance payments are decided according to the needs of the spouse and child. "I think in cases of high earners, it's a landmark case and is certainly something for those people to worry about," said Ms Lesley Pendlebury Cox, a solicitor specialising in family law. The couple met in 1990 when Parlour was a 17-year-old apprentice footballer and married in 1998 after the birth of their second child.
Ray Parlour left the family home in 2001 and they have not lived together since.
Karen Parlour, described as a "full-time mother of three children aged eight, six and four" was granted a "quickie" divorce in August 2002. - (Reuters)