It is probably fair to say that there has been even greater interest in the divorce hearing of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills from the mass ranks of the media, who gathered at the High Court for every day of the six-day hearing, than from the legal profession. The judgment itself has provided little in the way of legal precedent, while at the same time becoming one of the most well-read judgments to have come out of the judicial system in recent years; for the insight it has given the public into the wealth, lifestyles and personalities of the parties involved. Although of limited legal precedent, the case has highlighted some important issues in relation to the evidence and appointment of expert accountants.
Expert accountants were involved in several aspects of the case, including:
- the valuation of McCartney’s business assets at the date of marriage and date of separation (undertaken by his accounting expert as part of his Form E);
- a joint report valuing McCartney’s business assets at the date on which Mills asserted that they had begun to cohabit; and
- an assessment of what constituted Mills’ reasonable income needs (initially carried out by her expert accountant as part of her Form E, but later challenged by an expert accountant appointed by McCartney).
