The wife of National Hockey League star Duncan Keith has lost an interim bid in B.C. Supreme Court to get her husband to pay $150,000 per month in spousal support.

Kelly Keith had sought the huge interim payout, along with $69,270 per month in child support, claiming she had suffered “economic hardship and disadvantages” arising from the couple’s marriage breakdown in June 2014. Duncan argued that Kelly should receive $15,000 in spousal support and $10,000 for their son.

The couple, both 32, had been together since they were teenagers and started living together in 2009 when Kelly moved to Chicago where Duncan was playing hockey for the Blackhawks. Kelly couldn’t work in the U.S. and ran a charity in the couple’s name.

Since they separated last year, the court heard that Duncan, who earns more than $9 million annually as an All-Star defenceman, had paid Kelly $10,000 per month as well as another $10,000 monthly for the mortgage and other expenses on the couple’s Naramata property, where she lives with their two-year-old son Colton.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice George MacIntosh ruled that the child support claim for Colton was “disproportionately high, at least in this interim stage” and ordered Keith to pay Kelly $15,000 per month to care for their son.

He also ordered that Duncan pay Kelly $45,000 per month in spousal support, saying he considered it “adequate” for addressing the economic hardship and disadvantages of the couple’s split. But he drew the line at making the payments retroactive. Duncan will also continue to pay the mortgage and expenses on the Naramata property.

“There is no evidence of Ms. Keith having any financial need that is unmet, or of blameworthy conduct on Mr. Keith’s part,” the judge ruled.

MacIntosh added in his oral ruling that there is “some solace” that his interim decisions are intended for a relatively short period, and are capable of being substantially reworked when all the facts are known at trial or in final settlement.

ksinoski@vancouversun.com