World's divorce capital gives record £54m payout to wife

London - regarded as the world's divorce capital - has just seen the awarding of the biggest divorce payment ever to a wife in a contested divorce.

Few details of the 'M v M' case are available but Mrs Justice King, in the High Court, awarded a £54 million share to the wife. The wife was represented by David Lister, family partner at Mishcon de Reya.However, the Evening Standard, predicts that this record will shortly be beaten by the case involving Pauline Chai, a former Miss Malaysia living in the UK. Ms Chai is claiming up to £500 million - half his fortune - from her husband, Khoo Kay Peng, one of Malaysia's richest tycoons.

London is top divorce city

Proceedings began in the case in the High Court in July. London is a favoured location for the junior partners in marriages as it has a history of being more generous than other jurisdictions to the lower-earning spouse. While the M v M case sets a new record in contested splits, the level of payouts in settlements has several times been much higher than £54 million.