The price tag of a corporate wife has been valued at $20m by an American divorce court.

Lorna Wendt, the ex-wife of General Electric executive Gary Wendt, is to receive the award in cash, investments and property.

Mrs Wendt, 54, insisted to the court in Stamford, Connecticut, that she deserved exactly half of their estate as compensation for 31 years as a corporate wife.

Her lawyers estimated their estate to be worth as much as $100m, while Wendt insisted it was only worth $21m when they separated two years ago, although he acknowledged his net worth has nearly doubled since then.

Mrs Wendt said: "It reminds us all that marriage is a partnership between equals and that both spouses contribute valuable assets to the partnership."

Her attorneys said the ruling gave her half of Wendt's hard assets - including cash, stocks, bonds and real estate. They said they could not immediately calculate a total figure, but that it appeared she would receive at least $20m.

After the ruling Mr Wendt, 55, the chairman of GE Capital Services, a highly profitable unit of General Electric Co, said: "I offered her half of what we had when we split up and the court pretty well followed that down the line,"

He said the judge's decision requires him to pay his ex-wife $17.3m up front, plus $252,000 a year in alimony and $180,000 a year in GE dividend equivalents.

His ex-wife was also awarded the couple's $3m home in Stamford, Connecticut and a property in Key Largo, Florida.

During the divorce trial, Mrs. Wendt's told the court she organized lavish business dinners, travelled extensively on GE trips, was responsible for handling the family's moves each time her husband got a promotion and did most of the work raising their two daughters.

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