Her share of pot is bigger

DEBBIE and Terry Hurley put both their salaries into one pot, but her share is around £15,000 higher than his.

Mrs Hurley, 42, a mother of two from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, works as a research director for a media consultancy.

Her pay outstrips that of her painter and decorator husband. He cut his hours to take on more childcare responsibilities.

She said: “Our total income is around £130,000 annually and, despite me earning more now, it hasn’t always been that way and Terry out-earned me before the children, now six and eight, came along.

“It’s because he was self-employed with more flexibility over his hours that he could stop work to collect the kids from school or to pick one of them up if they were ill.

“At the moment, he’s going out to work full-time and because I’m now working from home full-time, I’m doing more of the childcare.”

Currie, investment director of Fidelity International, said: “Greater flexibility in the way we work going forward will open up avenues for men to take on more childcare and help women to hold on to their careers.

“This will help women to reclaim some of that earning potential that has been missed due to the role of primary carer.” concluded that a rule barring people who kill from inheriting their victim’s estate should be waived in Mrs Challen’s case.

The judge, who analysed arguments about Mrs Challen’s inheritance claim at a High Court hearing in Bristol earlier this month, announced his decision in a ruling published yesterday.

Appeal judges quashed her murder conviction in February last year and ordered a new trial – at which she was sentenced to nine years and four months for manslaughter, but they concluded that she had already served her time.