London’s position as the number one divorce destination has soared in 2010 thanks to the large number of highprofile cases involving wealthy foreigners, many with albeit tenuous connections to the country. In July 2010, flamboyant Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky divorced his second wife Galina Berezovsky, who walked away with a cool £100 million - the largest settlement in British court history.

However, in the summer, a senior judge blasted the amount of judicial time devoted to litigation between super-rich couples who want to get divorced in London. And with a potential judicial review on the horizon, the tide could be turning. Lord Justice Thorpe was overseeing the ‘bitter and unruly’ divorce of millionaire Russian couple Ilya, 24, and Elena Golubovich, 26, who were married in Italy and lived for a time in South Kensington. Both parties filed for divorce on the same day, pitting one jurisdiction against the other, and in the process, amounting legal costs of over than £2 million. In the Golubovich case, the Court of Appeal upheld a divorce granted in Moscow, despite the wife’s wish to be divorced in London.

Ilya Golubovich, whose first Russian decree was found to be a forgery and who allegedly tried to have his wife deported from their London home, won after his second divorce pronouncement in Moscow was recognised by the appeal judges. However, Lord Justice Thorpe said on giving his judgement: 'I question whether there should not be a more stringent allocation of judicial time to cases such as this, where the parties have slender connection with our jurisdiction.'

An expensive mistake
A move to England can be a very expensive mistake indeed. England's generous tax system is ironically matched by an equally generous divorce system. A couple who have moved to England can theoretically have their divorce proceedings determined in England, when they have been resident here for just one year.

England's divorce system is designed to provide equality as a starting point according to James Stewart, a partner of top family lawyers Manches. About half of Manches's divorce cases have an international dimension.

'There is a huge rise in the number of international couples in England, which effectively means that London divorce lawyers will find many of their cases have an international dimension, says Stewart. Manches have handled some of the biggest divorce cases of recent years, including Guy Ritchie and Madonna's separation in 2008, with Manches reputedly securing Ritchie a £45 million settlement.

'If you have an Anglo-Scottish couple who have an estate in Perthshire and a London home, where are they going to divorce?' he says. 'Are they going to divorce in Scotland, a jurisdiction that is the most parsimonious in Europe where a wife will only receive maintenance for a period of up to three years if she is lucky, and where, unlike England, inherited assets and trusts are excluded from the marital pot? 'Unlike Scotland, the big difference in England is everything goes into the pot. After a long marriage, fairness will generally require equality.

As opposed to Scotland, where inherited and other assets are excluded, in England there is continued maintenance, which will generally continue until death, remarriage or further order of the court.' In an Anglo-Scottish divorce, the decision as to which UK jurisdiction prevails is decided by where the former matrimonial home is, and where the couple last lived together as husband and wife.

'That can be quite difficult to prove if you have a couple who have moved quite seamlessly between their London home and their Scottish estate, so forum shopping disputes between England and Scotland are quite common,' explains Stewart of the practice of getting your legal case heard in a court likely to provide a favourable judgment. The popularity of 'forum shopping' has exploded over the last five years. In that time, an estimated 24,000 couples have come to London to divorce.

'Forum shopping'
The Golubovich is a prime example of 'forum shopping'. There is a popular perception that spouses obtain substantially fairer settlements in England, largely due to the obligation for a complete disclosure of assets belonging to one party. This is not the case in other countries.

Wealthy husbands will often view divorce as the dissolution of a business settlement and petition in a country they are connected to that suits assets best. While The European Union is already tackling the issue of 'forum shopping' through the Rome III agreement, which aims to clarify and standardize the law in situations where couples are linked to more than one EU state, the ruling will only apply to 10 countries and not to England. 'England bases its jurisdiction on periods of residence,' explains Stewart. 'In England it's periods of residence and domicile.

Russia is one of these countries where jurisdiction is based on nationality. You may be a Russian who has been living in England for many years but if you have retained your passport and are still a registered resident in a Russian city, you will be able to issue divorce proceedings there.' In the Russian system, divorce is a quick administrative exercise. 'That is why Ilya Golubovich was able to get his divorce quickly,' Stewart tells me 'In England it is much more long-winded and fault based.'

Berezovsky and beyond
Despite surviving several assassination attempts, exile from Russia and charges of fraud, 64-year-old Berezovsky found his match in Galina, 51. The couple, who met in 1981, had been married for 18 years and have two teenage children, had been separated since the mid 1990s. Galina Berezovsky lives in Kensington, west London, in a Hyde Park penthouse, while he lives in the 172-acre Wentworth Park estate in Surrey, which he shares with his girlfriend of 15 years, Yelena Gorbunova. Berezovsky's assets reportedly include a house in Cap d'Antibes and a villa in Cap Ferrat, Galina decided filed for divorce after reports described Gorbunova as her then estranged husband's 'wife'.

When the decision is made to divorce, each party is in a race against time to lodge their petition first in the country where they believe, the laws will be most favourable to them. The ensuing legal battle to establish which jurisdiction a divorce should be heard is often highly complex.

When Pre-Nuptial Agreements are added to the mix, it can lead to extended legal disputes. A recent study by London solicitors Mischon de Reya of a group of city businessmen earning over £100,000 found that 89% did not have a Pre-Nuptial Agreements in place.

At present Pre-Nuptial Agreements are not legally enforced in England, as the law requires that marital assets be divided equally between the couple. However, according to Stewart Pre-Nuptial Agreements, both made in England and abroad, do have significant evidential value to influence the court in England.

'In Russian cases for example, the marital agreement they signed before the marriage will be absolutely be upheld by the court there.' He explains. 'In England, any prenuptial agreement made abroad will have evidential value but will not be determinative or binding.'

The position of Pre-Nuptial Agreements looks set to change. In October 2010, England's Supreme Court ruled for first time that the agreements can determine the outcome of a case in English courts.

Before German heiress Katrin Radmacher, 40, and French banker Nicolas Granatino, 38, married in 1998 in London, they signed a prenuptial agreement in Germany promising that Granatino would make no claims on Radmacher's £100 million inherited fortune if the marriage failed. According to Radmacher, it was 'a way of proving you are marrying only for love'. Despite this their love did not last and the couple separated in 2006, divorcing in London.

Granatino challenged the settlement he received citing that the couple's Pre-Nuptial Agreement had no status in English law. However the Supreme Court ruled for the first time that the Radmacher/Granatino's Pre-Nuptial Agreement did have 'decisive weight'.

Granatino was left to be content with his earlier settlement of £1 million and the use of a £2.5 million home until his youngest daughter is 22. The ruling put Pre-Nuptial Agreements in the spotlight as never before, particularly at a time when divorces and second marriages are at an all time high. Critics have pointed that Pre-Nuptial Agreements generally benefit the wealthier party and leave the financially weaker spouse, often the wife, disadvantaged.

However for the time being the tide of forum shoppers heading to London is unlikely to wane. 'There is absolutely no doubt that England is the most generous jurisdiction in Europe,' says Stewart.

Some would say it's the jurisdiction of choice for greedy forum shopping partners. Others would say it is one of the fairest jurisdictions in Europe.'