More and more women are paying maintenance to ex-husbands, or “manimony” as it has been dubbed by the popular press, and they’re not all Katie Price or Madonna types either.

Many women, most of them on modest salaries, are beginning to earn more than their husbands and, when a divorce financial settlement looms, divorce solicitors are now, more than ever, likely to see an ex-husband pursuing his former wife for maintenance payments.

And with the newest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealing that the gender pay gap – the difference between men and women’s average salaries – has reduced to less then 10 percent for the first time in history, numbers of manimony claims are only likely to increase.

ONS figures reveal that the wages of women working full-time hours are increasing twice as quickly as men’s salaries and if this rate of growth continues, women could be earning more than men by 2020.

So, the traditional view that divorce is biased against men may well soon be changing as many women are being forced to pay maintenance or large clean-break settlements to husbands earning less than themselves, and they are angry. Divorce councillors have suggested that many successful women feel they are being unfairly punished for years of hard work, both at home and in the workplace.

Of course, others would argue that this is the opposing face of equality and when a family court adjudicates on who gets what in a financial settlement, the division of assets should be based primarily on need and who brought what to the marriage, irrespective of gender and traditional family roles.

Family court judges would almost certainly argue that this is exactly the case – always has been and always will be.

To find out more about how Healys’ divorce solicitors in Brighton could assist you during a divorce financial settlement please click here.