The Green energy tycoon Dale Vince has called for a time limit on divorce cash claims after agreeing to pay his ex-wife £300,000 in a financial settlement.
Kathleen Wyatt initially sought £1.9m from the founder of Ecotricity in a claim lodged more than 25 years after the couple separated and nearly 20 years since their divorce.
Vince is a former new age traveller who became a millionaire businessman long after the couple parted.
There was a legal battle over whether her claim could proceed, which Wyatt later won in the supreme court. Vince described it as a “mad” decision.
The high court family judge, Mr Justice Cobb, sitting in London, approved the pair’s decision to settle with the “modest” award to Wyatt and said it represented “a realistic and balanced appraisal of the unusual circumstances of this case”.
How much Wyatt will actually receive remains uncertain because of outstanding legal bills, which have yet to be fully quantified.
Neither Wyatt, 55, of Monmouth, nor Vince, 53, of Stroud, Gloucestershire, were in court for the announcement.
Vince later said the case had been “a terrible waste of time and money” and the settlement barely covered Wyatt’s legal fees.
He added: “I’m disappointed that the supreme court decided not to throw out the case, given it was brought over 30 years since the relationship ended.
“There clearly needs to be a statute of limitations for divorce cases – a time limit beyond which a claim cannot be made. Such a thing exists in commercial law for good practical reasons.”
The couple met as students, married in 1981 when they were in their early 20s, and lived a new age traveller lifestyle. They separated in the mid-80s and divorced in 1992.
In the mid-90s Vince began a business career and went on to become a green energy tycoon when he launched Ecotricity, which is worth at least £57m.
The supreme court justice, Lord Wilson, said Wyatt’s claim was legally recognisable and not an abuse of process.
He described Wyatt as being in poor health and living in a modest house in Monmouth. He said she sometimes had low-paid jobs, and at other times she relied on state benefits.
Wilson described Vince as a “remarkable man” who was a traveller with no money in his 20s, “but one year at the Glastonbury festival he rigged up a contraption from which he provided a wind-powered telephone service.
“It was the start of a business which, as a result of his ingenuity and drive, has led to his manufacture and sale of green energy on a massive scale.”
Vince lives with his second wife in a Georgian fort.