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Millionaire appeals against 'unfair' divorce settlement
Thu 04 Mar 2010
A millionaire is taking legal action after he was forced to put his country estate on the market to comply with a divorce settlement.
Erik Maurice Robson had been told to pay £8 million to his former wife Chloe in order to provide her and their two children with a housing and income fund.
However, Mr Robson is resisting the payout on the grounds that it was based on an inheritance from his late father and a period of irresponsible spending which followed.
As a result, his legal team has argued that this money should be considered separately from the rest of their assets, as the monies were not acquired by the couple's own efforts.
Mr Robson has called for the divorce payout to be reduced significantly, as he believes the judge's original ruling was unfair.
His 2,050-acre country estate - Kiddington Hall in Nether Kiddington, Oxfordshire - went on the market with an asking price of £42 million last year.
It is a Grade II listed property and was built in 1673.
Carol Ellinas, a partner at Winckworth Sherwood Solicitors, commented: "When making a financial order in divorce proceedings the judge takes into account all relevant factors.
"The most important being whether there are any children of the marriage, after that comes the length of the marriage, the ages and earning capacity and health of the parties.
"This is clearly not a 'needs' case so the principle of 'yardstick of equality' as laid down in the case of White v White will be applied.
"This means that the court will start with a 50:50 division of the assets but will move away from a 50:50 division if the circumstances justify it, for instance if one part has contributed more than the other.
"If some of the parties' assets were inherited assets then this can justify such a move, as there is an inequality of contribution to the 'pot'.
"If the court did not take this into consideration when ordering the lump sum of £8 million then there may be justification for lodging an appeal on behalf of Mr Robson.
"If there was irresponsible spending by both the parties following receipt of the inheritance then both parties must accept responsibility for this." 
