Senior Partner Marilyn Stowe is quoted in today’s edition of the Financial Times. In an article entitled ‘Wealthy divorcees watch Prest test case’ Law Courts Correspondent Jane Croft discusses the long-running divorce dispute between oil executive Michael Prest and his former wife Yasmin. She notes that family courts have typically taken a more practical view of the ownership of assets in divorce cases than commercial courts:
The ex-wife of a wealthy oil executive is heading to the UK’s highest court to challenge a ruling that lawyers have said could help wealthy people who want to wriggle out of paying large divorce settlements to their former spouses.
The case involves a long-running dispute between Yasmin and Michael Prest, and three companies owned by Mr Prest.
It centres on whether the companies can be ordered to transfer millions of pounds of property assets owned by the companies to Mrs Prest as part of the settlement.
Last year, the High Court ordered Mr Prest to pay £17.5m to Mrs Prest but decided he was unlikely to comply and ordered that a number of properties held in the names of companies he owned and controlled should be transferred to Mrs Prest as part of the payment.
The companies successfully fought this decision in the Court of Appeal on the basis that the property assets in question belonged to the companies, which were separate legal entities, and not to Mr Prest…
