Heather Mills to appeal against £24.3m settlement!

[mumemma]

How can that not be enough? The papers are going to have a field day.....

Pupuce, yes I did hear that comment and I do think she would have been better off with a lawyer for lots of reasons, even just a middle of the road high street firm.

Xenia, HM does remind me of you a little and I mean this in a nice way as I think she's very passionate in what she believes and doesn't mind standing out from the crowd (hope you don't take offence at that observation- I've just had a couple of glasses with my mother!). Also, you are sort of in Paul's position as, unlike most women, you were the higher earner in your divorce.

Personally, I think the principles should remain constant no matter the sums involved and on this basis I think she has been treated unfairly.

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The principles by the way in law are if it's a short marriage the short marriage rules apply and you're put back to where you were at the start and given any increase in wealth divided by two during the marriage. In this marriage his income did not increase - in fact his wealth decreased so on the principles she might have got a lot less actually.

Might be one reason the judge found (in my view erroneously) that they only started living together on the date of marriage so it makes it look more like a short marriage.

Whether she did better without a lawyer who can say. But she certanily did better than had she accepted his very late in the day £15m offer.

Morally I think you should take back what you put in. There is no moral basis at all that my ex husband should have been made such a rich teacher on our divorce given he always worked full time and gave nothing up for me or the children and it's very unfair he gets to much, no debt, never obliged to see the children either and I support us all and have massive debts just because I earn more. Just as well I didn't wash my hands of the children otherwise I suppose they'd be in care.

i think only his accountants know how much he is worth.

how do we know he hasn't spun off a load of it to his 6 grandkids and three kids by his first marriage?

We don't know because he refused to give her disclosure of his finances, that's why so she wasn't able to check but I doubt she would have got more had she been able to check so that's largely irrelevant and there is precedent (Charman case I think) for breaking those trusts for children to give to a greedy ex wife which again I think is wrong. Why women always seem to want to live off male earnings just like the prostitute in the Eliot Spitzer matter I just don't know. Can't they earn their own money or are they just so much more useless than men that they have to take money from men at all levels of the social spectrum?

'there is precedent (Charman case I think) for breaking those trusts for children to give to a greedy ex wife which again I think is wrong.'

That is truly shocking!

Evie - My DB divorced and his wife sacked her lawyers and did her divorce herself, it became so much messier... she sacked them because (according to him of course) they kept telling her she would not get this or could not ask that etc... She got exactly what was she was entitled and what he was offering... she wanted more (he is not Paul though LOL). Their biggest battle was their children... he wanted shared custody and she didn't.

she is as mad as a box of frogs

I think the settlement was fair and the short marriage rules have applied, she should take it and go away. She wanted to appeal against the details getting published and it included there address, daughters school and she said it was to protect their privacy. Could be as other posters have mentioned because she wants to cash in on the details at a later day but this may be cynical thinking.

She got a very expensive house. Dont remember the value. £24 mil, £35,000 per year for B and her school and nanny fees paid.

That seems a small amount in comparision to his worth/income and that's when she complained that B would have to travel 2nd class whilst her dad travelled first. If it was my DD I think I would contribute to her flight costs with £24 mil. That's when I gulped at the enormity of the settlement.

She did earn it she had to hump Macca

she isn't appealing against the 24 million, she's appealing against the decision to publish the details.

she is as mad as a box of frogs though.

she as on the steps outside the court for 11 minutes

11 minutes!

doofeckinlally

Yes, but if those trusts to the children were created specifically to keep assets away from the wife, with the husband a Trustee and therefore able to retain ownership of the Trusts and to change the Beneficiaries (eg away from children and back towards husband) at a later date of his choosing when the dust had settled...?

Xenia, I have to query your views on the short marriage issue. When I did some family law roughly 8 years ago, this was indeed the case namely that in a short marriage the parties were expected to take away what they had put in. However, I know someone at arguably the top matrimonial law firm in London who says that 50/50 is the starting point in current divorce law and that it is not simply a case of leaving with what you came in with (even in a short marriage with no children). Isn't it common knowledge that London is the best place in the world for the lower earning spouse to get a divorce?

It think it's odd that Heather keeps referring to B as "my daughter". What, like she is no longer PAul's too? Seems weird.

I also think it's weird the way she is pictured with her thumb up in victorious fashion oustide the court house. Somehow she out to be a bit more mellow, for B's sake. That's her daughter's father.

Oh, but silly me, I guess she can't help but make an arse of herself when a camera appears.

Now, I may be a little naive here, but why are people allowed to have short marriages and walk away with a lot of money?

Heather had her own money before she married Paul, not sure how much, but she wasn't "Heather from the corner shop down the road, her mum played bingo with Pauls mum and set them up on a date" she was Heather the sucessful model. She wasnt dragged from the streets of poverty and flung into a rich world.

Any money should be purely for the upkeep of her daughter. I dont believe she should be awarded such an amount, and yes, I know it is a small percentage of the entire estate but still. This case juse shows how bitter people become during divorce and how money really is the root of all evil.

she did upset me a bit by saying that, since her daughter was only getting a payout of 35k a year ( ), "she'll travel B class while her father travels A class" ). right. how absolutely awful for her.

according to the radio earlier, the 25m includes the 8 million that was Heather's before the marriage.

and he's worth 400 million, apparently, so the actual payount is less than 5% of his wealth.

it only seems a lot to us plebs.

she should be thinking of her carbon footprint with all that B class travel

. yes, 35k goes a long way economy class, doesn't it?

So walking away with her own £8M isn't enough?

See, if DH&I go tits up, we came into our marriage with naff all, and we can both try to claim a settlement out of each other - he supports me in my quest to become and accountant, and I support him in his quest to become an engineer.

I can see The Sun camping outside our front door now

Came across well in the TV interview?? How many sideswipes at Paul did she take? Hell hath no fury...... Look, I have no view on what living with Paul McCartney might have been like, and I don't believe what is printed in the papers. But watching the interviews she has given in recent times has painted her, in my view, as a complete bitch, with a VERY unfortunate manner. Her poor treatment in the press has nothing to do with marrying an icon, but everything to do with her own attitude. Now it's all sorted, let's hope she crawls away and keeps quiet for a bit.

I feel sorry for Beatrice though, poor thing.

So strange that Paul does not get any flack for falling for the 'young blonde with lovely breasts'. He lost any of my sympathy when he died his hair some ridiculous colour and I suspected him of wearing make up.

She may be a wierdo but he wasn't forced to marry her! So she deserves every penny IMO !

btw, that £8 million wasn't exactly earned from "modelling" was it? More like getting serially engaged and then splitting up and selling her story.

Isn't it true that when she first came to the media's attention (when she lost the leg) no one could actually find her registered with any model agencies and the only photos on file were of an "artistic" nature ....??

well, still her money