Now love-split Cheryl faces tough access talks over baby Bear
POP stars Cheryl and Liam Payne were yesterday facing legal negotiations over access to their one-year-old son after announcing they had split.
Cheryl, 35, took to Twitter to reveal she had parted from Payne, 24, over a year after the birth of Bear Grey.
The split means potentially complicated legal arrangements will now need to be thrashed out to agree terms of access.
The couple insisted that the child will be their priority.
But lawyers are also likely to be needed to divide up their respective fortunes since he has moved out of the family home.
One Direction singer Liam is said to be worth £50million and X Factor judge Cheryl’s fortune is valued at £20million.
Legal experts believe that she may ask for a chunk of his money.
Family law specialist Chris Fairhurst said: “As Cheryl spends a greater time caring for the couple’s son, Bear, she may wish to make a claim in respect of child support.”
But he added that as they are both independently wealthy it might be assumed having a child together has no impact financially.
And Mr Fairhurst said it is “unlikely” that Cheryl will have any claim on Liam’s £5.1million mansion in Surrey, even though they had lived there together.
Meanwhile, Cheryl’s stepfather Anthony Leighton yesterday predicted that she would be fine.
Speaking from his council house in Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne, he said: “Cheryl is always OK.
“I am of course very proud of her – for the way she handles everything.”
Days before the announcement, Cheryl celebrated her 35th birthday with her Girls Aloud former bandmates Kimberley Walsh and Nicola Roberts.