A Scottish aristocrat has won the right to take his case to the Supreme Court.
Charles Villiers, 55, accused his former spouse, Emma, 60, of “trying it on” in the English courts as a divorce tourist, claiming she only moved to London when they separated in order to apply for maintenance via the more generous English courts.
He lost an initial bid to stop her from claiming £10,000 monthly maintenance payments in London last May, when the Court of Appeal rejected his claim that an English judge had no right to intervene in a Scottish divorce.
The Supreme Court has now, however, given him permission to appeal that order, leaving him “pleased and relieved” and hopeful that the case, which has dragged on for several years, will be heard by the five-judge panel before the summer.
Mr and Mrs Villiers married in 1994 and separated in 2012 after 17 years.
Mr Villiers filed for divorce in Scotland in 2014, but three months later Mrs Villers applied to the English courts for financial maintenance.
However, Mr Villiers is determined that the case be heard in Scotland, where inherited wealth is not included in divorce settlements and maintenance is limited to three years.
