Legal News

A judge has told a British couple fighting each other in the divorce courts to end their dispute for the sake of their “long suffering” children.

Mr Justice Peter Jackson said that the level of conflict between the couple was “shameful”.

“They can take credit for having two lovely children,” he told the court. “But their behaviour is making their children miserable.”

The couple – now in their forties – have been together since the wife was 17 years’ old, the court heard. She comes from a working class background and her husband had “worked his way into money” and now inhabits the world of offshore “wheeler dealing”, the Evening Standard newspaper reports.

The court heard that, although the couple are British, neither party had any intention of “paying any tax here”.

They separated in 2012 and the wife served divorce papers. As an interim measure, her husband was ordered to pay her £6,500 a month in maintenance – £80,000 annually – and was also ordered to pay the children’s school fees, the household bills and £16,000 towards legal costs.

Between them, they have accumulated £500,000 in solicitors’ fees in just a few months, however.

It is reported that the husband had given his wife almost nothing in maintenance, paying just £3,000. His family is now so poor his wife cannot afford to mend the family’s television set, the court was told – and the husband owes £113,000 in maintenance arrears, which accumulated over four months.

The couple’s son is aged 12 and their daughter, ten.

The court heard that the husband – a property and finance mogul – is now involved in an affair with a woman he met in Las Vegas and spends nights with her at the Park Lane Hotel in London, while his ex-wife and children live in poverty.

The ex-wife is in a relationship with her own solicitor and has hired a private detective to follow her ex-husband.

A social worker said the marital home – worth £5.5 million – was the “grandest” she had ever seen.

“The living room alone is bigger than many people’s houses,” she told the court, despite many of the rooms now being “empty”.

The couple have engaged four legal teams between them as they battle over the divorce settlement.

Mr Justice Peter Jackson condemned both parents for “putting their children through hell” as a result of their divorce battle.

The couple cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Duncan Lewis Divorce Solicitors

Duncan Lewis divorce solicitors can advise on a wide range of matters involving separation agreements, divorce settlements and dissolution of a civil partnership, including:

• Child care arrangements
• Children and finance
• Contested divorces
• Domestic violence
• Dowry disputes
• High net worth individuals
• International divorce
• International parent-child abduction
• Leave to remove orders
• Spouse abandonment
• Wills and trusts.

Duncan Lewis is a leading firm of Legal Aid solicitors and can advise on divorce and family law under UK law and Islamic law.

For expert legal advice on divorce, family and child care law, call Duncan Lewis Divorce Solicitors on 020 7923 4020.