General Chat

Historical definition of a kept woman....

"Historically the term has denoted a "kept woman", who was maintained in a comfortable (or even lavish) lifestyle by a wealthy man so that she will be available for his sexual pleasure. Such a woman could move between the roles of a mistress and a courtesan depending on her situation and environment."

If that is the case of the woman in question, then I reckon she deserves all of the money, then he will have to find a woman to keep him, not that anyone would want him of course.

You only have to look at the McCartney / Mills case to realise that the days of the wife walking away with half is a thing of the past.

Mills sought a settlement of £125 million but ended up with £24 million. This was a lump sum of £16.5 million is made up of £14 million as the capitalised figure for the her income needs, which the judge assessed at £600,000 p.a., and a sum of £2.5 million for the wife to buy a property in London. The remaining figure consisted of her assets she was allowed to keep.

She claimed that McCartney has assets of around £800 million, twice the amount he had claimed, but the judge disagreed. In any event it would have been unlikely to affect the final settlement which was awarded on the basis of what her needs were, rather than the amount of her ex's wealth.

Lynda, most of my female work colleagues worked full time like their husbands and in a stressful environment as well as having children to look after. Is the wife who stays at home and doesn't have the pressure of targets to meet and annual performance reviews their equal?

Every situation is different I think and so should be judged differently. I wonder how much money these women would have amassed by their own efforts had their husbands stayed at home to care for the children? As the law stands it is wrong their husbands hid their assets, but if I was a man I wouldn't even consider marriage without a prenup.

Ann, of course every situation is different, and as I've said, whether it's a man or women, makes no difference, if your entitled to half of an amount, you should get half.

As for a prenup, if I thought I needed one to marry someone, I wouldn't marry them.