Three Court of Appeal judges in London are analysing the latest stage of an Anglo-Scottish legal battle between an aristocrat and his estranged wife.
Charles Villiers and Emma Villiers, both in their 50s, are embroiled in a dispute about whether their arguments over money should be staged in an English or Scottish divorce court.
Appeal judges Lady Justice King, Lord Justice David Richards and Lord Justice Moylan are not expected to deliver a ruling until later in the year.
Mr Villiers says their marriage is being dissolved in Scotland and wants to know why a fight over money should be staged in England.
A judge based in the Family Division of the High Court in London had initially considered the case.
Mrs Justice Parker had ordered Mr Villiers to pay Mrs Villiers £2,500 a month maintenance pending a resolution of their money fight.
She had rejected Mr Villiers’ “jurisdictional challenges”.
Mr Villiers has mounted a challenge in the Court of Appeal, which Mrs Villiers is contesting.
Barrister Michael Horton, who is leading Mr Villiers’ legal team, told judges that the couple had spent almost all their married life in Scotland after getting married in 1994.
He said Mr Villiers stayed in the family home, Milton House, in Dumbarton, after the couple separated in 2012.
Mrs Villiers “came south to England”, first living near Oxford then in London, and made a cash claim in the High Court in London.
Mr Horton said Mrs Justice Parker had rejected Mr Villiers’ “jurisdictional challenges.”
