McCartney divorce deal expected on Monday

FORMER Beatle Paul McCartney is expected to find out on Monday how much of his fortune he must hand over to estranged wife Heather Mills when a judge rules on their acrimonious and highly public divorce.

With the world’s media poised to pore over every detail of any judgment, it is unclear whether Judge Hugh Bennett will make public all or part of his decision, due to be handed out at London’s High Court.

If either side is unhappy, they can apply for permission to challenge the ruling in the Court of Appeal.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a divorce case that has attracted so much publicity, certainly in Britain, and there probably won’t be ever again,” said Alan Kaufman, family lawyer at Finers Stephens Innocent.

McCartney, 65, married former model and charity campaigner Mills, 40, in 2002, but they split four years later, blaming media intrusion into their private lives. They have a daughter Beatrice, 4.

Estimates of the size of any settlement are at about £50 million (€65m), which would be the largest divorce settlement in British legal history.