Macca’s bitter divorce battle set to begin

PAUL MCCARTNEY and Heather Mills meet today to begin potentially the most costly divorce battle in British legal history.

Their case number is listed for 10.30am in the High Court Family Division.

The hearing is almost certainly connected with money — how much Ms Mills wants and what McCartney is prepared to pay to avoid further hearings.

It has been put forward in the past that McCartney has offered in the region of £20 million (€28.8m) and Ms Mills is after something more like £50m (€72.2m).

Divorce lawyers believe there will be a settlement, with McCartney agreeing to increase his offer from his estimated £825m (€1,191.6m) fortune. The deal is expected to outstrip the £48m (€69.3m) insurance broker John Charman, 53, was ordered to pay his former wife Beverley in May this year in the biggest contested divorce settlement to date.

McCartney and Ms Mills, who have a four-year-old daughter, announced last May that they were ending their four-year marriage.

Former Beatle McCartney, 65, faces a payout approaching £70m (€101m) to provide for Ms Mills, 39, and their child, according to divorce specialists.

When the couple announced their split, McCartney denied statements that his wife had married him for his money and said the parting was “amicable”.

Subsequent spats in the courts and public statements by Ms Mills did not support this.

McCartney and Ms Mills met at a charity event in 1999, and their relationship immediately made headlines, not simply because of the difference in their ages but also because of what was claimed to be the disapproval of McCartney’s children.