Battles that go down to the baubles and pet dog
DESPITE the fictional stories that form the basis of The Split, not much can compare with the drama of real life.
Family lawyers have told The Mail on Sunday a series of salacious anecdotes which make the on-screen antics seem pedestrian. Often, it’s the divorce lawyers who take the flak.
Deborah Jeff, head of family law at Seddons, had her tyres slashed after a long day in court over a £5million divorce case.
‘I took it as a compliment because I’d done an outstanding
job,’ Deborah says. Debbie Chism, partner at Stewarts Law, who recently acted for Prince Louis of Luxembourg, has had people shouting ‘It’s MY money’ in her face.
‘One client’s other half sent the keys to a property in something a horse might have done,’ Debbie adds.
‘I sent it to their lawyer’s office, saying “You can open this”. The keys came back sparkling.’
A colleague of Emma Hatley, a partner at Stewarts Law and consultant on The Split, had to hire protection after a disgruntled spouse threatened him during a case.
‘He actually attacked the judge outside the court,’ Emma says.
Who gets what in a divorce, including a collection of Christmas baubles and the family pet, is often battled until the last. ‘I had one case in which no one wanted the poor dog,’ Emma Hatley, a partner at Stewarts Law says. ‘It was really old. We had correspondence back and forth about it. The housekeeper took it in the end.’
There was a case where a spouse sowed cress seeds into the Axminster carpet and then watered it, while another wife sawed the legs off the family’s Steinway piano because she didn’t want the husband to have it.
A priceless wine collection is destroyed in The Split, a common occurrence, according to Sandra Davis – head of family law at Mishcon de Reya. In one of her cases, wine ‘ended up being poured down the toilet by the people who didn’t own it’.
Sandra has also experienced a wrangle over a tea set. ‘The lawyer on the other side dropped one of the cups. That resolved the issue.’
Pre-nups are also big business and can be more than illuminating for clients. During pre-nup talks, one of Deborah Jeff’s clients discovered her fiancé had a child that she didn’t know about but she still married him.
Deborah adds: ‘I was acting for a retired Army major who was marrying a much, much younger lady. ‘When we declared there wouldn’t be the generous settlement she backed out of the marriage. He was devastated but did phone a couple of months later to say thank you.’