You never know what’s round the corner

You must have heard about the case of a former New Age traveller who won the right to claim cash from her millionaire ex-husband - 20 years after they divorced?

Five Supreme Court justices unanimously ruled her case should go before the family court at a date still to be decided.

It's a whole new age for Kathleen Wyatt and Dale Vince.

Kathleen Wyatt and Dale Vince, founder of wind-power firm Ecotricity, met as students in their early 20s and married in 1981. The pair had a son, Dane, and lived a New Age traveller lifestyle before their divorce.

While Mr Vince, who set up Ecotricity in 1995 after the pair had split, is said to be worth more than £100 million, Ms Wyatt has raised her son through "16 years of real hardship" and her claim was "legally recognisable" and not an "abuse of process".

Legal commentators chipped in by saying the judgment is “a timely reminder that divorcing couples who want protection from such claims, even if they have no money at all, should obtain an order from the court at the time of the divorce, in which they both agree that there will be no further financial claims”.

That is the only way to guarantee that, if one of them goes on to make a fortune, they get to keep it.

But as New Age travellers, who refused to accept society's normal ideas and ways of living, they probably didn’t feel the need to tie things up financially. They probably didn’t own much more than the vehicle they lived in.

And I can’t imagine either of these free spirits ever envisaged one of them would have a multi-millionaire lifestyle in the future.

This all goes to prove that no-one knows what’s round the corner.