LAS VEGAS in the United States may be the best place for marriage but London is known as the divorce capital of the world, boosted by a ruling Friday on a Malaysian beauty queen’s bid for a big money split from her tycoon husband.

    Thousands of wealthy Russians, Americans and Europeans, many of whom work in the City of London financial district or own property in Britain, now end their marriages before an English judge.

    Few are as rich as businessman Khoo Kay Peng, reputedly worth at least 400 million pounds (US$640 million) and Pauline Chai, tales of whose 1,000 pairs of shoes and 22,000 pounds monthly budget for a Rolls Royce plus chauffeur has enthralled Britain’s press.

    But their case has drawn fresh attention to a phenomenon, which has made a handful of lawyers almost as rich as some of their clients.

    “England has become very attractive for wives, in particular because awards here are considerably higher than almost anywhere in the world,” said Sandra Davis, head of the family law department at Mishcon de Reya.

    “By the same count, it’s a jurisdiction that the wealth creator generally wants to avoid,” added Davis, who represented Diana, princess of Wales in her divorce from Prince Charles and U.S. model Jerry Hall in her split from Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger.

    A judge at London’s High Court ruled Friday that it could hear the divorce between Chai and Peng after his lawyers argued it should be heard in Malaysia instead.

    Her legal team, led by the “Diva of Divorce” Ayesha Vardag, successfully argued that the former Miss Malaysia had lived in England — in a 30-million-pound mansion outside London surrounded by 405 hectares of parkland featuring a menagerie of animals — for long enough to satisfy the legal requirements.

    The case could set a new record for England’s biggest divorce payout due to the length of the couple’s marriage, which lasted over 40 years.

    That is currently held by late Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who reportedly paid up to 220 million pounds to his ex-wife Galina Besharova in 2011.

    While no precise figures exist on how many divorces in London have an international element, lawyers say they are common. Davis said 75 percent of her clients in this field had an international link.

    Following a landmark case in 2000, English courts start from the assumption that marital assets should be split 50/50, favoring the less wealthy spouse.

    This contrasts with many other countries and means awards in England are several times bigger than they would be elsewhere.

    Another factor is that pre-nuptial agreements, signed before marriage to protect the richer spouse’s assets, are not legally binding in England.

    English judges also take into account a wider range of assets when calculating each spouse’s wealth, which also appeals to the less wealthy partner.

    (SD-Agencies)