AdminLeicester City title-winning captain Wes Morgan has lost a court battle over child maintenance payments for two of his children, with judges ruling that their mothers can pursue around £137,000 each in unpaid support.
The former Foxes defender, who famously captained Leicester to their remarkable 2016 Premier League title, told the Child Maintenance Service he was unemployed after retiring from football, resulting in his official payments being reduced to £0.
Morgan subsequently argued that he was no longer required to make additional payments ordered by the court.
However, three senior judges at the Court of Appeal have rejected his argument, allowing the two mothers to pursue the outstanding payments.
Morgan received his final payment from Leicester City in August 2021 and informed the agency he was unemployed on September 24 that year. His payments were reduced to nothing in February 2022, backdated to that date.
The mothers challenged the decision, and investigators revised it in 2023 “on the basis of misrepresentation by the father”, according to the court ruling.
Morgan also appealed, but a tribunal subsequently found his annual income over the previous four years had ranged between £220,000 and £240,000.
On Wednesday, October 21, Lady Justice King dismissed his argument, saying the result “could only be regarded as absurd”.
She warned it would create “the sort of power imbalance” the system was designed to correct.
The judge said the legal battle had continued for “over seven years in order to secure an outcome which will ensure that the father honours his obligations to these two children”.
If no agreement is reached, the cases will return to the family court.
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