Advice Centre

How to begin the divorce process

As you can imagine, with high net worth assets and ultra high net worth assets the process of divorcing and distributing those assets is not always a straightforward process.

It can sometimes be the case that with the parties having international connections one party might be keen on divorcing outside of England and Wales. London particularly has often been referred to as the ‘divorce capital of the world’ with the following settlement being made:

• Former wife, Tatiana Akhmedova, of Russian billionaire, Farkhad Akhmedov secured an award of over £450 from the High Court after financial proceedings were issued. This claim only represented 41.5% of the total marital assets as reported in in the original case AAZ v BBZ [2016] EWHC 3234 (fam).
• The Court ordered the transfer of an English property worth over £2.4m, an Aston Martin worth £350,000 and an modern art collection worth more than £90m.

This is the UK’s largest divorce settlement

Despite the order being made Mr Akhmedov failed to adhere to the order and as such Mrs Akhmedova had to apply again to the Court resulting in Mrs Akhmedova securing the sale of Mr Akhmedov’s £4.5 million helicopter.

High net worth divorces and Ultra high net worth divorces

There are also many other factors that might arise with these types of divorces:

• Jurisdiction – where to issue divorce proceedings if one or both of you have international connections
• Protecting a business
• Assets overseas
• Valuing such assets
• Inheritance issues
• Non disclosure of assets
• Freezing orders
• Standard of living

If there is a possible jurisdiction issue, then you should seek legal advice as soon as possible. You need to qualify to begin divorce proceedings in the UK and again you should clarify this straight away.

Is there a set formula?

It is not always the case that your assets will be divided 50/50 upon a divorce. There are many factors that the Court needs to consider such as your capital and income resources, your age, length of the marriage and the financial needs of both parties. So whilst 50/50 may be a starting point for some cases, it is not the case for every couple.

The Court does however have a number of factors that it looks at, known as section 25 factors. However, before it even gets to these factors, it will need to consider the welfare of any children of the family under the age of 18.

Once the Court has looked at the different factors it will then consider how to calculate and then distribute the available resources.

Will I have to go to Court?

At IMD Solicitor we can help you to achieve a settlement and this can often be achieved without having to issue Court proceedings. This of course depends on the circumstances of your case. If an agreement is reached then the provisions can be put into a consent order and sent to the Court for approval.

Summary

It you have high net worth assets and are concerned about how to begin the divorce process, or need advice about divorcing a partner with high net worth assets, it is advisable to seek legal advice as soon as possible.

For a confidential discussion about this area of law please contact Melisa Cunningham in the family team on 0044 333 358 3062 or m.cunningham@imd.co.uk.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please note that the law may have changed since this article was published.