Helping women rebuild their lives

Following an interview with Michelle Young on the subject of her long running divorce battle, the Daily Mail also spoke with Ayesha Vardag about her experience of representing women in some of the richest divorce battles in the world.

She explained the frustration which wives can feel when they are excluded from their husband’s financial affairs and kept in the dark about family money. “He says times are hard but in fact he’s racking up the cash in accounts you’ve never heard of - accounts he uses to pay for the flat in which he houses his mistress or to pay for holidays, dinners, jewellery and sports cars for his various girlfriends -  even for call girls and escorts, up in town while you’re holding the fort at home. You end up feeling rather like an expensive and privileged hired help – no power, no independence, no voice – completely disenfranchised,” she explained.

Talking about her role as a divorce lawyer, she said “I have the privilege of watching and supporting them as they rebuild their lives, their habits and pleasures and social lives, their talents, their sense of fun and their sense of themselves, and it’s hugely fulfilling.  One of the biggest problems they face in getting their independence back, however, is getting their fair share of what they’ve given up sometimes decades of their lives to build up with their families.”

Ayesha also explained how Vardags’ specialist expertise can help women who have been left in the dark about the extent of their husband’s wealth. “We use our in-house forensic commercial team to pore over bank statements and stray scribblings on the wife’s bedside table to find leads and gaps which take us to missing accounts, to crack corporate structures, to puzzle through the workings of offshore trusts and to look for the latent money, parking of funds and hidden investments in or from companies all over the world.”

She concluded by discussing the court’s increasingly tough line towards non-disclosers, saying “The party’s over for non-disclosing spouses – rather than a slap on the wrist and maybe a bit of a financial penalty you may actually find yourself doing time.  It’s a quantum leap - it changes the game for all the women who have been kept in the dark, and it increases the chances of them getting justice and a fair deal for their futures.”

Read more about our top divorce lawyers for women.