A City fund manager hit by the credit crunch went to the Court of Appeal today in an attempt to secure a cut in the £9.5 million divorce settlement he made to his former wife.

Bryan Myerson claimed that his former wife, Ingrid, was awarded 43 per cent of the couple’s £25.8 million fortune when the settlement was agreed in February last year.

She was awarded £9.5 million cash, but he took most of his shares in the couple’s stocks in Principle Capital Holdings, where Mr Myerson worked as a fund manager.

Since, the share price has plummeted by 90 per cent and the divorce, as it stands, leaves Mrs Myerson with 105 per cent of the couple’s assets while her former husband, who still owes her £2.5 million in cash, would have to borrow money to pay her.

One of the judges, Lord Justice Thorpe, observed: “That’s a rum do,” when told that if Mr Myerson, 50, complied with the order he would be half-a-million pounds out of pocket instead of receiving £14.6 million from the total assets.

Martin Pointer QC, representing Mr Myerson, said “The husband’s case is that the unforeseeable and unforeseen combination of forces at play within the global economy has undermined the assumptions upon which the order was made,” said Mr Pointer.

He said the financial crisis had made the order “both unfair and impracticable”.

“The effect of what has been happening to the financial markets has been to drive down the value of the shares and capital holdings.”

Calculated yesterday, the wife’s share of the total assets under the order would be 105 per cent and the husband’s would be minus 5 per cent, Mr Pointer said.

“Arguably it could be worse than that,” he added.

The case, in which the husband is trying to appeal out of time, could trigger a spate of similar applications in so-called “big money” divorce settlements where the wealth has been lost through the financial crash.

Most leading family lawyers have similar cases queuing up to come to court to seek renegotiations of settlements.

Explore Law

• Columnists

• Law Panel

• Law Reports

• Student Law

Times Recommends

• The best legal yarns this Christmas
• Legal school 'earned £1m by exploiting bar course'
• Axe may fall on 5,000 more City lawyers