Australian pop star, Sia, is purportedly being pursued by her ex-husband, Dan Bernard, for $250,000 per month in a maintenance claim. The pair, who have an 11-month-old child, were married for a little over two years.
In response, Niki Wilburn-Shaw, a Partner in the Knights Family Team, said: “Whilst this is an overseas divorce, the law in England and Wales is based on the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, which focuses firstly on the needs of one spouse and the ability of the other to pay.
“It's not an automatic right, nor is there any general entitlement. We simply do not have any strict formula where this is devised but the court will look at what's called Section 25 factors.
“These factors included several details the court will want to know such as age, marriage duration, earning capacity, marital lifestyle and their respective healths.
“In turn, this will influence in turn what their needs are, whether they can work or not, whether they need pensions, those sorts of things. The needs of children are generally looked at separately.
“There is always a focus towards independence, and the courts are obliged to consider what's called a clean break - which means the parties should be separated from one another indefinitely.
“This allows for a lump sum to be awarded in lieu of a maintenance payment – with some reaching eye-watering levels. For instance, Justice Haddon Cave awarded a wife £453m following the breakdown of a 20-year marriage.
“However, the length of marriage isn't necessarily a bar to maintenance when, if we consider the likes of the McCartney-Mills divorce, whereby Heather Mills was awarded 24 million after just four years of marriage.
“Arguments of this nature can easily be avoided by parties considering whether to enter a prenup and, when you see that Sia's ex-husband himself is seeking $300,000 towards legal costs just for this argument, then it would simply make sense. Should Sia wish to get married for a third time, then I’d advise that she looks at exploring a pre-nup herself.”