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A UK judge ordered Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai to pay a $679 million divorce settlement to his ex-wife.
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Princess Haya had filed for divorce in London, known as "the divorce capital of the world."
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Here's why British courts are so lucrative for wives of the super-rich looking to divorce.
When a British judge last year ordered Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the emir of Dubai, to pay a £554 million ($679 million) divorce settlement to his former wife, Princess Haya, it was believed to be the largest ever divorce settlement secured in the UK. It also reaffirmed London's status as the de facto "divorce capital of the world," at least for the rich and famous.
The UK court system is indeed the go-to destination for wives of the super-wealthy looking to divorce, mainly due to a legal tradition which is more favorable than most to the financially weaker party.
Multiple spouses have secured multi-million pound payouts — sometime amounting to 50% of their husband's assets — by taking advantage of the system which affords judges a huge amount of discretion.
This is a result of the a landmark judgment in 2000 where the concept of the "equal sharing" of assets became the norm. The often-cited case — "White v White" — concerns Martin White and Pamela White, farmers from Somerset who filed for divorce in 1994.
After years of wrangling, the court found that Mrs. White was entitled to 40% of the couple's £4.6 million ($5.6 million) assets, even though most of them were in Mr. White's name.
While the couple were not super-rich, the precedent they set has had huge ramifications.
In the case of the sheikh, believed to be a multi-billionaire, British Justice Philip Moor ruled in November 2021 that he must recompense his ex-wife Haya for her possessions, including: £13.6 million ($16.6 million) for Haya's jewelry; £1 million ($1.2 million) for haute-couture clothing; £1 million ($1.2 million) for cars; and £5 million ($6.1 million) for racehorses.
Haya had sued for divorce and custody of her two children after escaping to the UK in 2019.
As Mark Harper, a divorce lawyer at Hughes Fowler Carruthers, told The Guardian in 2015: "If you're the person with the money then most people will move heaven and earth to avoid a divorce in England because the law is much more generous to, typically, the wife, the person without the money."
London has been the scene of some of the financial elite's messiest and most expensive divorces.
In 2014, the British investor Sir Christopher Hohn was told to pay £337 million — nearly half of his £700 million fortune — to his American wife, Jamie Cooper-Hohn.