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The BoomBox.comMills Awarded $48.6M From McCartney
AP
Posted: 2008-03-17 09:51:31
LONDON (AP) - A judge has awarded Heather Mills a total of $48.6 million in the financial settlement of her divorce from former Beatle Paul McCartney.

A document released by the Family Court says the judge awarded Mills a lump sum of $33 million plus assets she currently holds worth $15.6 million. Mills says she is "very happy" with the settlement.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LONDON (AP) - Paul McCartney arrived at court Monday to learn how much of his fortune he must hand over to estranged wife Heather Mills. The rest of the world may have to wait a bit longer.

British law dictates that divorce cases are heard in private, and Judge Hugh Bennett will deliver his ruling at a closed-door hearing at London's Royal Courts of Justice.

Still, given the huge interest in the case, he could decide to release some or all of the details of the settlement after he hears arguments from the couple Monday, court officials said.

The settlement also would become public if either side challenged it in the Court of Appeal.

McCartney, wearing a dark suit and a black-and-white scarf, was the first to arrive, followed five minutes later by Mills, who wore a blue-and-brown pantsuit.

McCartney, 65, and Mills, 40, went to court last month to decide on Mills' share of his fortune, which is estimated at as much as $1.6 billion. Media reports have suggested McCartney offered Mills around $50 million, and that she was seeking at least double that amount.

"Heather Mills is obviously going to get what in common terms is a large financial settlement," said Patricia Hollings, a divorce specialist with London legal firm Finers Stephens Innocent. "How large it is going to be compared to his assets is another matter."

London's Evening Standard newspaper Friday quoted an unidentified source as saying the settlement would be around $50 million, but that it was unclear whether that included provision for the couple's 4-year-old daughter Beatrice.

Hollings said Mills might receive as much as $100 million - and that the judge might give her more in exchange for keeping quiet about the marriage and the divorce.

"My guess is he is going to be fairly inventive in how he deals with it," Hollings said. "He may give her a heightened sum of money to make up for the fact that she won't be able to go out and publish her autobiography as she would like."

The settlement has been a long time coming for the couple, who separated two years ago, after four years of marriage. At the time they said the parting was "amicable" and insisted "both of us still care about each other very much."

But the split has grown fractious since McCartney filed for divorce alleging his wife's "unreasonable behavior."

Mills - a former model whose left leg was amputated below the knee after a motorcycle accident in 1993 - claimed McCartney had failed to protect her and their daughter from slander, death threats and other abuse, and accused the media of persecuting her. In November, Mills said she had been "treated worse than a murderer or a pedophile," despite years of work for land mine victims and animal welfare charities.

When the couple and their lawyers appeared for a six-day hearing before the judge last month, photographers craned to catch a glimpse of them entering the grand, neo-Gothic court building, and reporters huddled outside the courtroom door.

But few details emerged.

Legal experts said the fact that the couple have a child would be taken into account in a settlement - but so would the relative brevity of the marriage and the fact that most of McCartney's wealth was generated before he married Mills.

McCartney met Mills in 1999, the year after the death from breast cancer of his first wife, Linda. That marriage was one of rock's most enduring unions, and produced three children, including fashion designer Stella McCartney.

Mills and McCartney married at an Irish castle in June 2002, amid rumors the former Beatle's children disapproved of their new stepmother. The couple's daughter was born the following year.


Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
03/17/08 09:50 EDT

And they said Yoko was the bitch

Mmm, can you say "golddigger"?

That's peanuts 4 Paul.

Damn!

Macca got robbed! I bet he wanna take her other leg off!

Nearly 50 million for nobbing a former Beatle???....there are so many things wrong with that, I don't no where to begin.

That's real fucked up!

She just wanted to get the money and leg it.

I'm looking forward to Paul's next album "Bank Account Severely Depleted".

Was this a lot less than she expected/wanted? Not God that she got so much money, but I'm glad she didn't hit the jackpot at least.

She threw water at Pauls lawyer?? she is such a bitch. She got 25 million pounds, and all she had to do was shag an old man..lucky cow. She is set up for life.

I think everyone keeps forgetting the fact that they have to raise the DAUGHTER THEY MADE TOGETHER

well that's what happens when you go on the rebound instead of grieving for a healthy period of time. Was Linda's dirt on her grave even settled before Sir Paul went chasing after the one legged gold digger???

But in defense of him, nobody deserves to be taken for their money, yeah she's a real bitch.
[Edited 3/17/08 18:28pm]

He may have made the money... but they both made Beatrice

Mong said:

He is worth over 800 million dollars.. he will regain that as soon as he puts The Beatles Catalog on iTunes..

Cinnie said:

Yes, he owes child support, but that's it. Why does he have to pay for that b!tch's lifestyle? What songs did she write? Please, $100 million my ass.

I hope Paul's learned his lesson. Wear a damn condom next time.

HALF!!!

DAMN... perhaps I should consider marrying a wealthy geezer

bboy87 said:

That's awesome!! I love that bit!

CalhounSq said:

How many legs do you have?

bboy87 said:

missfee said:

He really was thinking with his dick wasn't he? Heather even convinced him not to have a pre-nup before they married. She wanted 120 million pounds though, that's the funny part. I doubt what she got is even enough for her.

BITCH!!

They'd have to pay me a hell of a lot more to fuck Paul.

She is a totally unsympathetic nutjob! $50 million is NOT ENOUGH for her to help raise their daughter comfortably? Please Right - Beatrice's mom has $50 million, so she has to fly "B" class... I could her!

Paul seems like a reasonable man - I am sure his duaghter nor any of his children will never want for anyting and all have grown to be successful adults and do not seemed spoiled by his fame and fortune.
[Edited 3/18/08 9:59am]

i heard he is actually worth over 1.2 billion.. bit it is smart in his case to claim his worth much lower than that... she would have gotten more

IstenSzek said:

DiminutiveRocker said:

She likes to dig herself into a hole, doesn't she. She couldn't just release a statement and say 'Glad it's over, moving on' she had to make herself out to be a petty, greedy ass.

mynameisnotsusan said:

She really IS a bad person.

What I don't understand is that the judge said in his writings that she was not consistent or accurate with her testimony, less than candid with her testimony, and a less than impressive witness. That sounds like lying to me, so why was she awarded as much as she was? I suppose it is because there was no pre-nup?