A millionaire fruit farmer cannot use Brexit as a reason  to keep more of the family fortune from his ex-wife, a judge has said.

Last year Paul Mansfield, 56, was ordered to hand over £12.2million of an estimated £30 million to his former wife. In law this was a long marriage – they had been married 26 years.

On Tuesday, in a hearing at the Court of Appeal, Mr Mansfield  said he should be able to challenge the award to his ex-wife because it took no account of the impact that Brexit has on his fruit farming business. He also said that his ex- wife should not benefit from parts of the family fortune that had been gifted and inherited.

Mr Justice Moylan gave judgement and said the argument about Brexit would not be likely to succeed on appeal and therefore refused permission for it to go forward. He did think that the latter point had a prospect of success and a date will be set for the full appeal hearing.

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