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The personal life of outgoing Travelopia CEO Will Waggott has made the headlines after an Appeal Court ruled in his favour with regards to his divorce settlement.
The court ruled that Waggott, a multi-millionaire, will no longer have to pay his ex-wife £175,000 maintenance a year – for life – on top of a divorce settlement of nearly £10 million in cash and assets.
The couple divorced back in 2012 after Waggott, then finance director at TUI, had two affairs.
Not satisfied with the initial pay-out, Kim Waggott, 49, went back to court to fight for another £23,000 a year rise in yearly maintenance payments, but her attempt backfired.
This week, the travel boss, 54, successfully challenged the original award, arguing that it gave his ex-wife, also an accountant, no financial incentive to return to work.
Lord Justice Moylan at London’s Appeal Court agreed and ruled that the maintenance payments will stop in three years’ time rather than continuing until their deaths.
Lord Justice Moylan said: "The expression ‘meal ticket for life’ can be used as an unfair trope.
"I, of course, acknowledge that long-term maintenance can be required as part of a fair outcome.
"But it is plain to me that the wife would be able to adjust without undue hardship to the termination of maintenance," added the judge.
Lord Justice Moylan said the wife would be able to make up the ‘shortfall’ by investing £950,000 – roughly 10% – of her £9.76 million payout and living off the interest.
The court heard the couple had met in 1990 while working at the same accountancy firm and were married for 21 years, with one daughter, before splitting six years ago.
The story has been widely reported in both the tabloid and broadsheet newspapers, although reports wrongly say Waggott is still employed by TUI.
Will Waggott left the Executive Board of TUI Group in June 2016 to run its specialist division, Travelopia, which was sold off last year.
He is now in the process of handing over to a new CEO, Andy Duncan, former CEO of Camelot UK, the National Lottery operator.
