It's a familiar scenario...a young, attractive woman marries an older - perhaps less attractive - man. Onlookers see the couple and think "why?" Then they remember his wealth...and wonder considerably less.
(PRWEB) September 17, 2005 -- It's a familiar scenario...a young, attractive woman marries an older - perhaps less attractive - man. Onlookers see the couple and think "why?" Then they remember his wealth...and wonder considerably less.
Perhaps the most notorious potential example of this sugar-daddy syndrome in recent years concerned former Playboy Playmate of the Year Anna Nicole Smith.
She was 24 when she married 89-year-old multi-millionaire J Howard Marshall in 1992, her husband passing away just 14 months later without mentioning her in his will and leaving her to fight lengthy court battles with his family over the estate.
Cynicism about unions of younger women with wealthy men of course comes easily and was never better exemplified than when Caroline Aherne's chat show host alter ego Mrs Merton asked Debbie McGhee what first attracted her to millionaire magician Paul Daniels.
Louise Walker, family partner with law firm Irwin Mitchell in Leeds, comes across the sugar-daddy syndrome regularly in her work.
She says: "Even in these days of botox and costmetic surgery, it's a sad fact many men of a certain age still feel the need to trade their partners in for younger models, who find the sight of their crisp, folding money irresistible."
In these more emancipated times, however, a corresponding creature is on the rise...the sugar-mummy.
Possible examples of the species include actresses Demi Moore, Juliet Mills and Joan Collins, all in relationships with men young enough to be their sons, or - where the star of seventies cultural classics the Stud and the Bitch is concerned - her grandson.
And, in perhaps a slightly less spectacular example of sugar mummydom, a national tabloid thought the reasons TV presenter Lowri Turner planned to marry someone seven years her junior so important it gave her three pages to explain them earlier this month.
The tendency for less renowned wealthy women to ensnare more callow companions is increasingly obvious in Yorkshire too.
Mrs Walker explains: "Undoubtedly, younger men can still become obsessed by the charms of more experienced women but the tables seem to be turned more often now and it's a case of the older, richer female instigating a relationship with a less mature man."
One reason for the eligibility of these available middle-aged women is evolving divorce law increasingly ensuring they receive a full share of means built up with former husbands.
Mrs Walker explains: "Changes over the last five years have made it more likely the wife will now secure an equal share of wealth accumulated during a marriage.
"Cases such as that of Karen Parlour, ex-wife of Middlesbrough footballer Ray, and the recent instance of Melissa Miller, who held on to her 5m settlement after being married only three years to a director of a fund management company, bring much media attention to settlements wives of wealthy husbands can now expect to achieve.
"The courts now take the view that a settlement must be fair in all the circumstances and there should be no discrimination between breadwinner and homemaker.
"Their contributions to creating the wealth may have been very different but are now viewed as equally important. The key to any settlement therefore lies in the value of the accumulated assets, not how much the parties contributed to creating them."
And for many women, the acquisition of a king's ransom must be followed by that of a prince to spend it on, and often this quest does not prove too taxing.
As Mrs Walker points-out: "Money is clearly not just an aphrodisiac to women...young men also sometimes find irresistible a financially-independent partner who can provide a lifestyle they would otherwise only dream about and have to spend 20 years working towards.
"And for the wealthy woman? She gets a young man to mould to her fashion, enjoys the envious comments of her friends and lives a more carefree life than before...often at her former husband's expense."
The sugar-mummy syndrome reflects wider trends which have seen the proportion of women marrying younger men soar from 15 to 26 per cent in a quarter of a century and single men now outnumbering single women by a million, so there is apparently no shortage of toy-boys waiting to be snatched from their cradles.
Move over Bridget Jones. There is clearly a new girl in town.