London is an international centre for divorce, with many UHNWs trying to establish the city as an appropriate jurisdiction for the High Court to hear their financial disputes.
Family solicitor Debbie Chism tells Spear’s that, for UHNWs, ‘England remains one of the most generous jurisdictions in the world for divorce if you are representing the financially weaker spouse.’ She explains that the UK’s attraction as a divorce destination owes itself in part to Part III applications, which allow financially-weaker spouses to claim further provisions if they feel that they’ve been treated poorly in a foreign jurisdiction.
‘There isn’t anywhere else in the world you can do that’, Frances Hughes, a ‘Queen Bee’ of family law, adds.
Given the prominence of the England and Wales courts when it comes to divorce disputes, British High Court judges have had to adjudicate on the payments given to countless HNWs and high-profile figures over the years, a process made more challenging by multi-jurisdictional issues and complex asset bases.
Such payments are awarded based on the principles of ‘sharing, need and compensation,’ according to retired judge Sir Nicholas Mostyn. Sometimes these figures stretch into the tens and hundreds of millions of pounds, and often garner extensive media attention.
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The largest ever divorce settlements in the UK
1. Princess Haya and Sheikh Mohammed Al-Maktoum (£554 million)
Often described as the biggest divorce case in British legal history, Princess Haya bint Hussein, the half-sister of Jordan’s King Abdullah, was awarded a record-breaking £554 million settlement against Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum in December 2021. This included an upfront £250 million cash payment to cover lifetime security for her two children, described by Mr Justice Moor as necessary given the ‘grave risk’ to them.
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The proceedings made headlines globally after the UK High Court found the Sheikh had used hacking software to target the phones of the princess and Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia, who represented her. Shackleton’s deft handling of the case earned her the title of Spear’s Family Lawyer of the Year. The payout included £1.9 million for a kitchen extension and pizza oven, while £1.3 million was earmarked for private plane travel.
2. Tatiana Akhmedova and Farkhad Akhmedov (£453 million)
In 2016 the High Court ruled that Tatiana Akhmedova should receive £453 million from Azerbaijani energy magnate and sometime politician Farkhad Akhmedov. The case was reportedly settled for £150 million in July 2021, including a cash payment of £100 million and a smattering of artworks worth £50 million.
As a result of Akhmedov’s efforts to move money and assets out of his wife’s reach, he had tried to seize the couple’s £300 million superyacht, which was originally made for Roman Abramovich. The couple met in 1989, with a divorce petition issued 25 years later by Akhmedov, who contested that the marriage had ended in earnest in the early 2000s, although the High Court did not agree. Mrs Justice Knowles said the couple were among the ‘unhappiest ever to have appeared in my courtroom’.
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3. Kirsty Roper and Ernesto Bertarelli (£400 million)
Former Miss UK and pop star Kirsty Roper, who wrote All Saints’ chart-topping 2000 song Black Coffee, was last year awarded a £400 million payout after a two-decade marriage to Swiss philanthropist and biotech tycoon Ernesto Bertarelli, whose worth was recently estimated by Bloomberg to be near $30 billion.
The settlement included £350 million in cash and assets as well as a £52 million mansion. Roper, who was also represented by Baroness Shackleton, was thought to have signed a prenup before marrying Bertarelli at the turn of the millennium. Her family are widely known as the manufacturers of Churchill China, based in Stoke-on-Trent.
4. Jamie Cooper-Hohn and Sir Chris John Hohn (£337 million)
Jamie Cooper-Hohn was granted a post-marital payout of £337 million from Sir Chris Hohn in 2014, a third of the fortune he accumulated as a hedge-fund manager. The couple, who have four children, jointly founded and ran the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and together gave away £1 billion from their shared fortune.
Hohn once described himself as an ‘unbelievable moneymaker’ and argued – unsuccessfully – to ban the media from the courtroom. Instead, the public got a glimpse into his lifestyle and heard his legal team argue he made a ‘special contribution’ to the couple’s combined wealth. Cooper-Hohn told the court she had worked long hours for their shared charitable enterprise. The couple married in 1995, after meeting as students of Harvard Business School and divorced in 2012.
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5. Galina Besharova and Boris Berezovsky (£165-220 million)
Considered at the time (2012) to be the largest ever settlement in UK history, Galina Besharova is estimated to have received between £165 and £220 million from her husband, Boris Berezovsky. In 2003, Berezovsky gained asylum in the UK after fleeing Russia; he had amassed a fortune of $3 billion, partly through ownership of the country’s main television channel.
Though married for 18 years, the couple are thought to have spent only two years together. The settlement was made up of cash, stocks and shares, and a penthouse in Kensington Palace Gardens.
6. Christina Estrada and Sheikh Walid Juffali (£75 million)
Christina Estrada entered proceedings to secure £196 million of Sheikh Walid Juffali’s £4 billion fortune, claiming £60 million would be needed to meet her ‘reasonable needs’. These needs included a new London home (the duo jointly owned a converted church in Knightsbridge worth that same figure), five cars spread transatlantically and a £1 million clothes budget.
Estrada also requested £40,000 annually to spend on fur coats. Overall, the former supermodel obtained assets totalling around £75 million. Saudi businessman Juffali died weeks after the 2016 proceedings concluded.
7. Pauline Chai and Khoo Kay Peng (£64 million)
Miss Malaysia 1969, Pauline Chai filed for divorce from businessman Khoo Kay Peng, executive chairman of fashion retailer Laura Ashley between 1999 and 2018, after 43 years of marriage. Represented by Ayesha Vardag, Chai first applied for a London-based divorce under Part III in 2013, though her husband contested his wife’s attachment to the country, accusing her of ‘forum shopping’. Vardags describes Chai v Peng as ‘one of the largest and most complex to come before the English courts’. The couple spent two years arguing over the correct jurisdiction for the case to be heard, before Mr Justice Bodey ruled that England was the correct forum.
In 2017, Mr Justice Holman decreed that a third of Peng’s £200 million fortune was to be paid to Chai, who had wished to halve their assets. The pair spent £9 million in legal fees between them throughout the battle.
