Animals take centre stage in divorce

A COUPLE’S animals could become the next battleground in expensive divorce cases after a British court ordered a banker to pay £50,000 (€63,000) a year in maintenance for his ex-wife’s horses.

Appeal judges awarded the woman a £1.5 million divorce package, which included a £900,000 lump sum to buy a house with enough land to graze her animals.

The childless couple from Gloucestershire were married for 11 years. The court heard the horses had almost become a child substitute for the wife, a talented rider who enjoyed eventing.