The case of former beauty queen Pauline Chai and her businessman husband, Khoo Kay Peng, is one of the largest and most complex to come before the English courts. The couple were married for 43 years, as the Malaysian businessman built up a multi-million pound empire, which includes high street name Laura Ashley.
Their divorce began in 2013, when the wife, represented by Vardags, issued a petition for divorce in London. The husband disputed that she had the necessary link to England to do so, and so issued his own petition in Malaysia. For nearly two years, the parties fought over the correct jurisdiction for the case to be heard. Mr Justice Bodey, of the English High Court, ultimately ruled that England was the correct forum, a ruling later approved by the Court of Appeal.
In April 2017, Pauline Chai was awarded a £64 million divorce settlement, one of the largest ever recorded.
Chai v Peng EWHC 3518 (Fam) Chai v Peng EWHC 3519 (Fam) Chai v Peng EWHC 1519 (Fam) Chai v Peng EWHC 750 (Fam)
The £64m divorce that shows English courts recognise each spouse’s role in a marriage (The Times)
Laura Ashley boss and wife mired in financial dispute end marriage (Guardian)
Laura Ashley boss ordered to make his wife an offer in ’titanic’ £440m divorce battle (Telegraph)
Court orders Laura Ashley boss to settle ’titanic’ divorce case (Guardian)
Tycoon’s wife gets decree nisi in London court (The Straits Times)
Laura Ashley boss told to ‘stop carping about cashflow’ and pay wife £500,000 (The Times)
Laura Ashley chairman accused of being ’feckless husband’ in latest divorce battle salvo (Telegraph)
Judge urges couple to avoid costly divorce row (Independent)
Judge attacks absent Laura Ashley tycoon (The Times)
Former Miss Malaysia asks London court to settle £500 million divorce (Telegraph)
Eye-popping settlements burnish London’s rep as world’s divorce capital (Washington Post)
Keen to leave your rich husband? Come to London, divorce capital of the world (Guardian)
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