The Quickest and the Biggest UK Divorces ever?

It seems as though you can barely open a newspaper or magazine nowadays without reading details of another celebrity couple to divorce. Nigella Lawson’s divorce was reported recently as being granted only weeks after pictures of Charles Saatchi apparently assaulting her outside a London restaurant made headline news. Often when the press reports a divorce as having been granted it is referring to the decree nisi in the divorce rather than the decree absolute which finalises the dissolution of the marriage. Either way the Lawson / Saatchi divorce has proceeded very quickly, and this is no doubt attributable to the fact that neither party is making a financial claim against the other.

The Law Society has recently issued a warning that celebrity divorces are unrealistic for the rest of us, and as  most divorces will involve a financial claim being made (even if that is ultimately settled by agreement) parties should not assume their divorce can be finalised with the  same speed as Lawson and Saatchi.

In the same statement the President of the Law Society warns that a cut price online managed divorce could end up costing more in time, money and stress in the long run. He advises it is crucial to take advice from a specialist family law solicitor particularly where there are children and / or financial assets  where an online process is not going to give you important tactical advice as to the options open to you.

Also making headlines this week is a £54 million divorce which has just been ordered in the High Court and which is being described as the biggest divorce pay out in contested UK proceedings. As yet no further details of the case have been released, although I would hazard a guess given there have been little prior press reports about the case that for once it is not about a celebrity couple’s separation.

Sally Leaman

Head of Family Law Gorvins