UK Divorcees Cleaning Up
by Marc H. RudovThe best place for a woman to get divorced is England. Translation: she can steal more money from her ex-husband in the UK than anywhere else.
The article below from Forbes magazine underscores the financial danger to men of marrying nonearning and under-earning women. Despite all the proclamations of marriage as the bedrock of society, governments do everything possible to dissuade men from getting married — and this is another great example.ÂÂ
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Splitsville, U.K.
Michael Freedman, Forbes – 06.19.06
London investment manager Alan Miller amassed a fortune of perhaps $60 million. But he apparently made at least one big financial mistake: He got divorced. Although Miller had been married for just 33 months, a judge awarded his ex, Melissa Miller, $9 million, including a $4.3 million town house in Chelsea and a lump-sum payment. The ruling, upheld in May by Britain’s highest court, along with another big-money case, marks a landmark tilt toward giving more to the nonearning spouse. Oh boy, potentially bad news for Paul McCartney, who announced in May he had separated from his wife of four years, Heather Mills McCartney. His 2005 tour grossed $77 million. That’s on top of four decades of royalty checks.
For years Britain’s courts favored the spouse who earned the money, typically the man. After a short marriage courts awarded the woman just enough to get her back on her feet. As a result, London divorce lawyers say, some rich American and European men in shaky marriages would move to England for a year to establish residency before filing for divorce.
But now women may find England more to their liking. The House of Lords ruling goes beyond what U.S. courts typically allow for nonearning spouses. Apart from the money needed for support, U.S. courts often split assets acquired during the marriage more or less down the middle. The Lords’ decision says a woman could receive compensation for lost wages as a result of being a homemaker as well as a share of her spouse’s future earnings. Michael Gouriet, a lawyer at Withers Worldwide, the London firm that represented Mrs. Miller, says the ruling even leaves open the possibility that an ex could lay claim to assets acquired by the spouse before the marriage began, particularly after a relatively long marriage.
Sandra Davis, a lawyer at London law firm Mishcon de Reya, which represented Princess Diana, says she has already received a call from a continental European woman who wanted to discuss moving to England. Will we also see a flock of unhappy, nonearning American women moving to England? The case law will take some time to sort out. Says Raoul Felder, a New York divorce lawyer who has represented Rudy Giuliani, “I wouldn’t go off celebrating yet if I were a woman.”