LONDON (Bloomberg) — A British court yesterday refused to force Bermuda-based insurance magnate John Charman to pay the remainder of a record $48 million ($94 million) divorce settlement to his ex-wife, saying the award may be lowered on appeal.Charman, the chief executive officer of insurer Axis Capital Holdings Ltd., is challenging a July order entitling his ex-wife to $40 million in cash and $8 million in assets held in her own name. Charman says the settlement is excessive and doesn't properly take into account that the couple's wealth was generated by his own success.

The Court of Appeal in London yesterday rejected Beverley Charman's application to compel her ex-husband to pay her the remaining $28 million pounds due under the settlement before the appeal is heard. Forcing John Charman to sell Axis shares prematurely or to dispose of assets held in trust may trigger tax liabilities that won't come due if he wins his case, the court said.

The $48 million sum was the largest amount ever awarded in a contested divorce settlement in England and Wales. Charman's appeal is scheduled to be heard in March.

The couple met as teenagers and were married for 27 years, while John Charman built a fortune in the Lloyd's of London insurance market. Beverley Charman, who gave up paid employment prior to the birth of the couple's first son in 1982, now serves as a local magistrate.