Ananova:

A four-year court battle between a farmer and his ex-wife over the £4.6 million business they built up over 33 years has ended - with an £840,000 legal bill.

Pamela White, 64, fought for an equal share of their assets after she was given an £800,000 lump sum one-off payment when their marriage ended in 1995. She took her case to the Court of Appeal, which increased her award by £700,000 in 1998.

But Mrs White was adamant that as she had worked as an equal business partner with her husband Martin on their farm near Taunton, Somerset, she was entitled to a half-share of all their land, buildings and livestock in the divorce settlement.

She took her case to the House of Lords, where five Law Lords ruled that the Court of Appeal decision should stand, dismissing her appeal and that of her 63-year-old ex-husband.

He claimed he had made a "fair and just settlement" with the first lump sum payment and should not have been told to pay more.

Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead, giving his ruling, said the couple, who had spent £310,000 on lawyers at the High Court and Court of Appeal, now faced costs estimated at "the appalling sum of £530,000" for the appeal to the House of Lords. Now both parties will have to pay their share of the legal fees.

Lord Nicholls, whose decision was endorsed by the four other Law Lords, said: "Divorce creates many problems. Everyone would accept that the outcome on these matters, whether by agreement or court order, should be fair."

But he added: "Fairness, like beauty, lies in the eye of the beholder."

He said the appeal raised questions about how the court should use their powers in so-called "big money" cases, where the assets available exceeded the parties' financial needs for housing and income.

"The present case is an unhappy, if extreme, example of how the parties' resources can be eroded significantly by legal and other costs," Lord Nicholls said.