The former wife of an aristocrat will be divorcing her ex-husband in English courts even though they spent almost all their married life in Scotland.
Charles Villiers, 55, has accused his ex-wife, Emma of ‘trying it on’ in the English courts as a cross-border divorce tourist.
Mr Villiers added that if she won her case, England would become ‘the maintenance capital of the United Kingdom’ and face an invasion of divorcees from other home nations.
In a ground-breaking decision, top judges in London ruled that Mrs Villiers is entitled to claim maintenance from her ex-husband in England even though their divorce is still on-going in Scotland.
Divorce proceedings were initially launched in Scotland in 2012 by Mr Villiers.
Mrs Villiers, however, brought her battle for £10,000 a month in maintenance to England.
In 2016, Mrs Justice Parker ruled that the English High Court had the power to help Mrs Villiers, because she was by then ‘habitually resident’ in England.
Mr Villiers argued that his ex-wife had effectively been ‘rewarded for moving from Scotland to England.’
