The Most Expensive Divorces In Legal History

Quite a few rich individuals have spent large sums of money on getting married leading lives to the fullest. They Have spared no efforts to display their wealth by doing everything that the average individual in the world can only imagine. Some have even divorced similarly and have entered into the record books as the individuals who had the most expensive divorces in legal history.

The settlements they had to pay to their spouses were not in the millions but were figures that many of us would have difficulties in comprehending. Fortunately, these were not ordinary individuals but were listed as among the richest individuals in the world. Let us look at some of the individuals who were made to pay heavily for their divorces.

[su_quote cite=”Jennifer Aniston” class=”cust-pagination”]I’ve seen people go through divorces and stuff, crossroads that don’t end well. Often. [/su_quote]

Dmitry Rybolovlev

Russian oligarch Dmitry was listed as 147 in the list of Forbes billionaires in February 2014 with a fortune of $8.8 billion. Dmitry had a setback in May when a court in Geneva awarded $4.5 billion to his ex-wife Elena in a Geneva court. Elena was also given custody of the 13-year-old daughter of the couple Anna apart from half of Dmitry’s former home in Cologne which is an upmarket neighborhood in Geneva. Elena had filed for divorce in 2009 after claiming she could no longer bear up with his infidelities giving details of parties one yachts where she claimed Dmitry had shared some of his young conquests with his friends and other oligarchs. in April 2012 a spokesman for Dmitry had claimed Dmitry was not a model has been and the infidelities he was accused of were never denied. Dmitry, however, claimed his wife knew about his habits for a number of years and had passively accepted it. Regardless of his claims, he had to part with $4.5 billion apart from his former home.

Alec Wildenstein

Apart from being a billionaire, Alec Wildenstein was also a French businessman, art dealer, and a racehorse owner. Alec married Jocelyn Perisset in 1978 only to divorce her in 1999 which cost him $2.5 billion. Jocelyn Wildenstein was renowned for the plastic surgery she had conducted on herself at a cost of £2 million simply to get her husband more interested in her. Unfortunately, she managed to scare the living daylights of Alec Wildenstein who it is reported to have screamed in horror when he first witnessed her new face.

Thereafter Mrs. Wildenstein found Alec in bed with another woman and sued for divorce on grounds of adultery. The court hearing was lengthy and she was awarded tens of millions of dollars including back maintenance of $540,000. Mrs. Wildenstein claimed she needed $1 million every month to manage her household because the years of dependence on servants had left her with no knowledge of how to light the stove, boil an egg or make toast. It certainly looked like people were being given lessons from divorces of the rich and famous.

Rupert Murdoch

Australian-American media magnate Rupert Murdoch married Anna Torv in 1967 and the pair remained as couples for 32 years. They had a semi-amicable split in 1999 and during the divorce settlement, Murdoch agreed to pay her $1.7 billion including $100 million in cash. 17 days after the divorce he married Wendi Deng who he has thereafter divorced. The terms of their settlement are unknown but Wendi has retained their three-floor penthouse apartment in New York which Murdoch had purchased in 2004 for a price of $44 million.

Bernie Ecclestone

Bernie Ecclestone the Formula One racing CEO married Croatian modern Slavica Radic who was taller than him by a foot and younger than him by 23 years. The petition for the divorce was filed by Slavica after 23 years of marriage in 2008 by stating unreasonable behavior on the part of Bernie and the divorce cost Bernie $1.2 billion. However, documents have since proven that Bernie has received half $1 billion from the trust fund set up by his ex-wife in 2009. The details of the divorce settlement were disclosed in an indictment which was laid before a court when Bernie was on trial in earlier this year. The indictment has revealed that Bernie has received payments on the basis of the British decree nisi and the payments are in the region of $100 million every year. The duration of the payments from the divorce decree is unknown.

Adnan Khashoggi

Adnan Khashoggi made his fortune as an international arms dealer for the Saudi royal family and during the 80s was considered as one of the richest men in the world having a net worth of around $4 billion. He was also the owner of a dozen homes including properties in Marbella and in Paris, Cannes, Madrid and Monte Carlo. He also had a stable of fine horses and around countless exotic animals, 100 limousines and a $75 million yacht. He married 20-year-old Sandra Daly and Englishwoman in 1961 who changed her name to Soraya after she converted to Islam. The divorce cost Adnan an estimated figure of $874 million.

These are some of the most expensive divorces in legal history that can leave you surprised with the sheer quantity of money which was settled during the divorce.