News from the New Party

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

A silver lining

Divorce cases are rarely good news for anyone, but on this occasion at least there is a substantial silver lining: little or no public money was wasted, and the costs of the matter were borne by people well able to afford it - and the judge has performed a significant public service.

Heather Mills claimed £125m as a divorce settlement from Sir Paul McCartney as compensation for their four year marriage. To bolster her claim she attempted to wage a media war targeted at destroying McCartney's reputation - presumably in order to intimidate him into coughing up quietly.

This week, the judge pretty much declared Sir Paul the winner - making an award of £24.3m (Sir Paul had offered £15.8 million), and then shredded her claim by releasing the text of his judgement in full - a move that Ms Mills had attempted to block.

It transpires that her claim included £499,000 for holidays, £115,000 or clothes and £39,000 for wine. No doubt many lone parents would love to have that much money to splash around on holidays and wine, but for some reason the judge thought this excessive in this case. The award of £35,000 per annum as child support for the couple's four year old daughter is also far more generous than most children in a similar position would get - but not huge either.

But whatever the details of the award, the judge has made clear that the practice of marrying a wealthy partner only to scurry off with a large part of their fortune only a few years later is not something a court can necessarily be expected to facilitate. It was widely expected that the McCartney/Mills divorce would result in a record breaking settlement. This has not occurred, and a warning has been served for anyone contemplating a similar move in the future.

News from the New Party

News Highlights

News Archive

A silver lining