I can’t give ex £12m ...because of Brexit!
Project Fear claim of fruit farmer in divorce battle
A MILLIONAIRE farmer who claims his fortune may have been hammered by Brexit is fighting his ex-wife over her £12million payout.
Paul Mansfield, 56, was ordered to hand over the cash to his wife of 26 years, Jane, from a family fortune worth about £30million.
But, in an application to appeal against the judge’s decision, Mr Mansfield claimed the award took no account of the impact of the vote to leave the European Union on the value of his premium fruit farming business.
Yesterday, in a hearing at the Court of Appeal, Mr Mansfield was granted permission to challenge the size of the payout, but his Brexit argument – an echo of the Project Fear claims in the run-up to the referendum in June – was rejected.
The court heard that the couple married in 1988 and had two children, living first in London but then moving to Mr Mansfield’s father’s farm, near Canterbury, Kent, in 1996. Mr Mansfield Snr had formed his farming business in the 1960s, but by the time of his death in 2011 it was in his son’s hands and worth millions. Its value was mainly in the more than 2,000 acres of land it comprises at Broad Oak Farm, together with a cold storage and packing operation.
After their separation, Mr Mansfield moved out, leaving his wife at the farmhouse at Broad Oak Farm with their children. He offered £6million to settle the divorce, but she refused and the case went to the High Court in November 2015.
However, almost a year passed before family judge Mrs Justice Parker delivered her final ruling and ordered the £12.2million be paid. By that time the country had voted in the referendum.
Challenging the payout yesterday, lawyers for Mr Mansfield said the delay in the judgment being given meant the impact of Brexit had not been taken into account.
James Turner QC argued the judge should allow further evidence to be given as the UK leaving the EU could ‘ potentially undermine’ the valuation of the family’s assets.
But Mr Justice Moylan said the argument about Brexit would not be likely to succeed and refused permission for it to go to appeal.
But he did say the £12.2million payout could be challenged over the issue of contributions to the value of the family business.
Lawyers for Mrs Mansfield, who played a full role in the faarm, said the decision would leave her ‘life in limbo’. ‘She has been kept out of her share of the assets for far too long already because of delays not of her making,’ said her barrister, Jonathan Southgate QC.
No date was set for the hearing of Mr Mansfield’s appeal.