Maple Leaf Foods CEO Michael McCain must pay $175,000 to his ex-wife every month

The lesson from the latest, almost uncomfortably intimate details to emerge from the divorce proceedings of Maple Leaf Foods CEO Michael McCain: being rich can be very complicated. In 1997, more than 15 years after Michael married his wife Christine, patriarch Wallace McCain threatened to disinherit his married children if their spouses refused to sign a contract waiving most of their claims in case of a divorce (a move Michael attributes to his father’s “unshakeable desire to pass on his wealth through generations of his bloodline, not fragmented by marital breakups”). When the couple did indeed break up in June 2011, Christine got $5 million, the family home and two cottages—a fortune to the average Joe, but a pittance compared to Michael McCain’s reported net worth of $500 million, and to Christine’s lavish monthly expenses, which included $2,600 for pilates and yoga training, $1,500 in club fees and a $13,000 clothing allowance. Lucky for Christine, the latest ruling, from Judge Susan Greer of the Ontario Superior Court, found that upholding the contract would be “unconscionable” and ordered McCain to pay $175,000 a month in spousal support until a settlement, arbitration or a trial determines appropriate long-term support. [National Post]