A man who was told at his divorce proceedings by a judge that he should 'learn to cook' and was given just 0.5 percent of his ex-wife's £66 million fortune has won an appeal.
Simon Entwistle and Jenny Helliwell tied the knot in 2019 and had an 'opulent standard of living' in a fancy Dubai villa, but as you can probably guess, the relationship didn't last and they separated in 2022, which set off a 'painful' divorce.
Bolton man Entwistle, 42, asked a court to provide him with £2.5 million of his ex-wife's fortune, but he'd signed a prenuptial agreement saying they'd each keep their own assets and split anything they owned jointly 50:50 in the event of divorce he didn't get it.
Instead he was awarded £400,000, minus £75,000 he was told to pay towards his ex-wife's legal costs, and ended up with £325,000.
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Before things had gone to court, Helliwell had offered Entwistle £500,000 and then £800,000 to avoid a lengthy saga, but he'd attempted to stick things out for his goal of £2.5 million.
His financial requests that were initially rebuffed included £36,000 a year for flights and £26,000 a year for meal plans as he told a judge he 'can't even cook an omelette', with the official firing back that it wasn't that difficult to learn how to cook.
At that first verdict, Mr Justice Francis addressed Entwistle's protestations that he needed extra money for meals, telling him he ought to 'learn' and saying: "You do not have to be a master chef to learn how to eat reasonably well."
"Being married to a rich person for three years does not suddenly catapult you into a right to live like that after the relationship has ended." he continued.
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The judge added that Entwistle was actually worse off having gone to court for the divorce settlement and that this outcome was 'tragic for everybody' thanks to rounds of 'painful litigation'.
He complained of 'gender prejudice' and argued that the agreement was invalid because Helliwell had failed to disclose around £48 million worth of assets back when they'd signed it, including business ventures her dad had signed over to her and a Wimbledon mansion with her mother living in it.
An appeal court found Helliwell, also 42, guilty of 'fraudulent' behaviour by not declaring most of her wealth, with Lady Justice King saying a new agreement would have to be reached.
She said: "Since the husband in the instant case was deliberately deprived of information which it had been agreed that he should have, in my judgment, the agreement cannot stand."
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While Halliwell's fortune is worth around £66 million and includes property in Dubai and France along with some assets and business interests gifted to her by her dad, Entwistle is worth around £850,000.
The successful appeal made no finding on Entwistle's claims that he faced 'gender prejudice', but a panel of judges did find that Helliwell keeping around 73 percent worth of her wealth hidden from her husband when signing the prenup was 'undoubtedly deliberate'.
Lady Justice King said she hoped the former couple could reach an agreement without a 'further distressing hearing'.
Topics: UK News, World News, Money, Sex and Relationships
Joe Harker