A wealthy German heiress worth £100 million today won a Court of Appeal case that will leave her former husband, now an impoverished student, with only maintenance money for his daughters.

Katrin Radmacher, one of Germany’s richest women, has succeeded in her challenge to a court ruling that she pay her husband, an ex investment banker turned Oxford University student, more than £5.5 million.

This has been cut to about £1 million as a lump sum in lieu of maintenance with a fund of £2.5 million for a house which will be returned to Ms Radmacher when the youngest of their two daughters, who is six, reaches the age of 22.

His debts of about £700,000 are to be paid off by the heiress, who had always agreed to this settlement.

Ms Radmacher, 39, had argued that their divorce settlement should be governed by the terms of the pre-nuptial contract that the couple signed before they married in 1998.

Ms Radmacher, 39, said in a statement: “I am delighted that the court accepts that the agreement Nicolas and I entered into as intelligent adults before our marriage should be honoured.

“Ultimately, this case has been about what I regard as a broken promise.

“When we met and married, Nicolas and I were broadly on an equal footing financially. He too is an heir to a multimillion-pound fortune and, when we met, was an investment banker earning up to £330,000 a year.

“The agreement was at my father’s insistence as he wanted to protect my inheritance - this is perfectly normal in our countries of origin, France and Germany. My father taught me the value of hard work and family values.

Source: Times Online