We have all heard of “health tourists” but what about “divorce tourists”?
This may be a lesser known phenomenon in the North of the country but in London it is very much an accepted condition. It was only in 2012 that Boris Johnson, in addressing the CBI conference, urged spouses of billionaires to divorce in London claiming “if you want to take him to the cleaners … take him to the cleaners in London”.
At the time, lawyers were commenting on the very real difference between financial outcomes in London and those in the North of the country, with the general belief that the London courts would be far more generous to wives not only as to the level of maintenance but also that there would be no automatic cut off point.
In the last couple of years, there has been a bit of a sea change in how spousal maintenance is considered, even in London. The argument is now being advanced that work is a good thing in that it is beneficial to health, that women do have the ability to work, retrain, earn an income and that financial independence should be promoted. Despite this, a recent report determined that the Family Courts in England and Wales still rank one of the most generous divorce courts internationally.
With all of this in mind, it was reported today that the ex-wife of a wealthy barrister had failed in her attempt to open up an Australian divorce settlement of 2009. The ex-wife had accepted a sum of £72,500 and maintenance of £45,000 per annum but she claimed that now she and her daughter were “in a predicament of real need”. The ex-wife had previously asked the Australian courts to reopen the financial agreement. The Australian court refused and so the ex-wife turned to the English Court (both parties now being resident in the UK). The ex-wife has again proved unsuccessful with Lady Justice Black refusing the appeal and commenting “this court is not here to provide a top up for every foreign divorce”.
Of course none of this is really going to affect the wives of billionaires as no amount of retraining will have any impact on their financial settlements. As to child maintenance, the good news is that the London courts recently dismissed as a “need” that a 7 year old child should have his own box at Ascot and the Emirates – now if it had been at Hillsborough or Bramall Lane?
For further information please contact Lindsey Canning at [email protected] or call 0114 266 6660
