London Reclaims Its Divorce Capital Crown

A wife has been awarded a whopping £453 million in financial matters upon divorce; this latest case allows London to reclaim its crown as the divorce capital of the world.

The couple in the case have not been named but the full judgment can be reviewed AAZ v BBZ [2016] EWHC 3234 (Fam). They married in 1993 and had two sons. The wife was 17 years younger than the husband and was described to be a housewife and a hands-on mother during their marriage. The husband was a businessman with significant wealth. The husband sold shares for US $1.375 billion during their marriage and at the point of divorce, the wife estimated their marital wealth to be over £1 billion.

The Judge accepted that the total wealth of the family was wholly matrimonial and that it should, therefore, be shared between the husband and wife.

The husband, in this case, seems to have not done himself any favours by failing to attend at court for the various hearings. The husband did, however, rather fittingly given the wealth involved, appear at the final hearing by video-link from his yacht in the Caribbean.

London is well known for being the divorce capital of the world and women from all over the world seek to issue their divorce proceedings in London if they have sufficient links to the country to secure jurisdiction. The reason for this is that the courts in London tend to take a more sympathetic attitude toward housewives or stay at home mothers.

The law provides for a starting point, in line with the sharing principle, in long marriages of a 50/50 split of the matrimonial assets regardless of who earns the most. The court will also give consideration to the standard of living the family has enjoyed throughout the marriage when determining a financial award. This means for a stay at home wife, who has been married to a wealthy businessman for a long while, is likely to receive an award very close to 50% of the entire matrimonial wealth.

This case is one of many over the past few years that have provided some of the highest divorce awards seen in England.

Our family team has experienced a significant rise in the number of high-net-worth clients issuing proceedings.

We recently acted on behalf of a client in a financial remedy case involving over £10million of assets. A number of factors made this case complicated, including a complex company structure with companies based abroad.

A significant number of cases this year have involved pensions actuaries, company valuations or other accountancy involvement in assessing the true level of assets.

We have also noticed a rise in the number of international enquiries where advice is sought in relation to jurisdiction.

MORE INFORMATION 

For more information relating to divorce law and how Pinney Talfourd can help, please contact our Family Law department – Call on 01708 229444 or email us using the form to the right. This article was written by Jennifer Herbert, Associate in the Family Law department at Pinney Talfourd LLP Solicitors. The contents of this article are for the purposes of general awareness only. They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice. Specific legal advice should be taken on each individual matter. This article is based on the law as of May 2017.