I help billionaires get divorces — they argue about sex chairs and £10,000 wine funds

As a lawyer of 15 years, Kelly Edwards had been wrong plentifulness of tribunal rooms with disgruntled erstwhile couples. But arsenic she stood connected the shores of Antigua, successful the Caribbean, this was a first, adjacent for her.

Specialising successful high net-worth divorces, Kelly had been summoned to a superyacht to hold the presumption of a separation betwixt a Russian oligarch and his wife.

However, erstwhile she had landed successful Antigua, the lawsuit changed his mind, and docked astatine a antithetic island, casually paying for Kelly’s flights to the caller destination. There she boarded a spectacular ace yacht, and attempted to settee his divorce via Zoom nexus to the judge.

It’s millionaire – and billionaire – clients similar these, that Kelly, 40, rakes successful a handsome six-figure wage settling disputes for.

If you’re imagining a Meghan Markle-esque Suits quality though, you’d beryllium mistaken. Kelly works from a Holborn townhouse with acheronian greenish walls and a sweeping staircase. Rather than choky dresses and ankle-breaking heels, her accustomed azygous is simply a beige rotation cervix sweater – accessorised by her sizeable diamond engagement ring.

Kelly began moving successful 2005, and is simply a managing spouse astatine her divorcement firm, Edwards Family Law. She says she makes astir £15,000 from a ‘simple’ divorcement but figures tin spiral to much than £60,000 if it’s much drawn-out – which astir 70% of her cases are.

‘Normal radical reason implicit their location and who gets the children what days of the week,’ Kelly tells Metro.

‘The ace affluent are inactive arguing astir the house, oregon houses, but besides however their businesses are dealt with, good jewellery and handbags. I had 1 lawsuit with a wardrobe the size of my aged flat.’

One of Kelly’s much memorable cases saw a mates reason implicit their X-rated belongings.

‘They were having a quality implicit who got the enactment chair,’ Kelly laughs. ‘I didn’t adjacent cognize what a enactment seat was to beryllium perfectly honorable with you.’

Perhaps adjacent much outrageous, was that this statement was betwixt the lawsuit and his mistress, who helium had 2 children with.

‘He truly wanted the enactment seat but successful the extremity his mistress kept it,’ Kelly adds.

‘I’ve besides had clients who’s partners person had affairs with their information detail, truthful I’ve had to assistance them get caller information teams.’

Another absurd inquire from a client’s ex-wife during divorcement proceedings was a £10,000 a twelvemonth vino allowance tacked connected to the child-support costs. Kelly explains: ‘She got it. The justice said: “We each request a solid of vino astatine the extremity of the time erstwhile we’re looking aft children.”

‘We were acting for the begetter and evidently objecting to it – we couldn’t judge that one.’

That being said, £10,000 a twelvemonth is simply a driblet successful the water for Kelly’s lawsuit who was worthy fractional a cardinal astatine the time.

And, the Russian oligarch successful his ace yacht was different divorcement that progressive eye-watering sums.

‘His woman was asking for 50/50, truthful that’s fractional a billion, and helium wanted to springiness her importantly little – astir £100 million,’ Kelly explains. ‘They couldn’t scope an agreement.’

And, erstwhile parties can’t agree, divorces tin resistance on, and on.

One of Kelly’s earliest cases almost puts Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s 8 year-long £319 cardinal divorcement conflict to shame, erstwhile she managed the high-profile divorcement of precocious spot tycoon, Scot Young, which lasted for 7 years.

Scot, who was said to beryllium worthy £400 million, was imprisoned for six months aft refusing to disclose his assets during proceedings. ‘That was a existent all-guns-blazing lawsuit conscionable aft I qualified arsenic a lawyer,’ Kelly recalls.

‘It’s the longest divorcement I’ve worked on, Phillip Green adjacent gave evidence.’

While Kelly’s assemblage tin beryllium stressful, it tin beryllium unsafe too. Take Kelly Lee McGinnis who fatally changeable his wife’s divorcement lawyer successful 1996. Or household lawyer Judith Leslie Soley, who was changeable and killed by her client’s hubby successful 2011. In 2017, Bryan Young was murdered by his client’s estranged husband, arsenic was divorcement lawyer Sara Quirt Sann that aforesaid year.

Kelly says ‘tempers flare’ successful divorcement proceedings each the time. ‘I had 1 lawsuit endanger the justice truthful severely the information fastener was pressed and helium was dragged retired of the room,’ she explains. ‘And my aged brag had a information defender due to the fact that helium was attacked by a client.’

She’s besides been a unfortunate of specified maltreatment herself. ‘I was acting for the woman and we’d reached an agreement, truthful I went to their shared location to assistance them disagreement the artwork,’ Kelly recalls.

‘I was 7 months pregnant, and my client’s ex-husband was truthful angry. He followed maine astir the house, verbally abusing me, telling maine I was a “bottom feeder”, a disgrace and asking however I slept astatine night. It was unpleasant to accidental the least.

‘But you’ve got to person a heavy tegument and instrumentality it connected the chin. It’s my occupation to halt tempers flaring due to the fact that a hot-headed aggravated and affectional lawsuit is 1 that is ne'er going to settle.’

For anyone reasoning of a vocation successful law, Kelly offers immoderate sage advice: ‘Be prepared to woody with radical astatine their astir susceptible and erstwhile they’re highly affectional – I besides woody with a batch of narcissists – truthful it’s not an casual ride.

‘Lawyers are accused of lone being disquieted astir money, but I’m doing my occupation and privation the champion result – to triumph – and that to maine is erstwhile some parties are happy.’

Has being surrounded by warring couples taught Kelly thing astir love? ‘I’ve been with my hubby since we were 21 and we’ve some changed a batch implicit the past 2 decades,’ she says.

‘Being a divorcement lawyer has shown maine that you person to larn to compromise successful relationships and dedicate a batch of clip and enactment to them.

‘It’s besides taught maine to support my children from immoderate arguments oregon disputes due to the fact that I’ve seen however overmuch it tin interaction kids erstwhile their parents split.’

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