Chrysler Building co-owner told to pay wife £37million
THE billionaire co-owner of New York’s Chrysler Building has been ordered to pay his estranged wife £37million under the terms of a prenuptial agreement.
Michael Fuchs, 62, was embroiled in a financial row with Alvina Collardeaufuchs, a 47-year-old former journalist originally from France.
Mr Justice Mostyn said the pair had spent “prodigious amounts” on lawyers’ fees, topping £4.3million, as they fought over how much money she was entitled to. Mr Fuchs and Ms Collardeau-fuchs married in New York in 2012, shared a home in London and separated in 2020, the judge heard.
The judge was told, at a preliminary hearing during the summer, that Mr Fuchs was a billionaire property tycoon.
Mr Fuchs told the judge, during a later hearing in October, that the “value of his fortune had plummeted recently due to the turbulent economic climate”.
Mr Justice Mostyn said: “The nature of the parties’ relationship was such that money was never a concern.” He said they had run “fully staffed homes” and lived in Notting Hill, in west London, the Hamptons, New York, Paris, Miami, Cap d’antibes and Capri.
A barrister leading Mr Fuchs’s legal team said they wanted decisions on how much Ms Collardeau-fuchs was entitled to under “nuptial agreements”.
Patrick Chamberlayne KC said Mr Fuchs said the figure was £30million and Ms Collardeau-fuchs said it was more than £45 million. The judge had to consider a forgery allegation made against Mr Fuchs by Ms Collardeaufuchs, who claimed that her signature had been forged on a mortgage document. Mr Fuchs disputed the allegation.
The judge made it clear in his ruling at the High Court that he had not made “any positive findings of falsification” against Mr Fuchs.
Mr Justice Mostyn heard evidence in private but said proceedings could be reported and the estranged couple named in media reports of the case.
He said their children could not be named, and also made rulings about payments for children. He said Mr Fuchs would pay children’s school fees and extras on the school bills, the cost of the children’s nannies – capped at £100,000 a year – and periodical payments for the benefit of each child.
Mr Chamberlayne had told the judge that Ms Collardeau-fuchs wanted about £1.2million a year provision for children. Mr Fuchs said the figure should be about £350,000 a year.
Mr Chamberlayne told the judge that Ms Collardeau-fuchs’ budget was “evidence of greed, not need”.