Lord Justice Pitchford said it was 'imperative that the wife go out to work and support herself'

Divorced women must go out and find a job rather than rely on payouts from their wealthy husbands to fund a life of leisure, a senior judge has warned.

Those with children over the age of seven should get part-time work, Lord Justice Pitchford said as he told the former wife of a millionaire racehorse veterinary surgeon that she could not have a meal ticket for life at her ex-husband’s expense.

The ruling brings to an end a longstanding presumption in favour of generous maintenance payments. Legal experts described it as a game-changer that would have repercussions for multimillionaires seeking divorces, and would bring English law more into line with Scotland and Europe.

Charlotte Posnansky, a family lawyer at Charles Russell Speechlys, said: “In other