How "super-rich" people sue on the example of the co-owner of the "Maria-Ra" network.
The author of the term "super-rich" is a judge of the High Court of London, who is considering a case on the division of property between Alla Rakshina and Lazaros Xanthopoulos. He also called the amount of legal costs "apocalyptic", and the attitude of the parties to the case - shocking and nihilistic.
However, the trial has been ongoing since 2020, the costs of its conduct have already amounted to 5,400,000 pounds and threaten to reach 7-8 million in the end. Rich people can afford it, as can contempt of court.
Alla Rakshina is the daughter of Alexander Rakshina, the founder and co-owner of the Maria-Ra retail chain. She owns 25% of the company, just like her mother, father and brother. She also owns Cottus (assets on settlement accounts - 11,000,000 pounds) and real estate in Russia and London, which is estimated at 6,250,000 pounds. She met the Greek Lazaros Xanthopoulos, who was born and raised in Russia, Alla in 1999, married since 2006, two daughters were born in marriage. The couple separated in 2020. According to the decision of the Russian court, recognized by the British judge, the marriage was dissolved in 2021, the place of residence of the children was determined with their mother in Russia. This decision by Xanthopoulos is now disputed. All legal costs are paid by the company of the ex-wife, who is still in London, this is a common practice.
The fact is that Xanthopoulos is described in court documents as a "householder", which, according to British law, gives him the right to maintenance from his ex-wife, including based on the usual standard of living in marriage. Currently, the dispute is over the size of assets, an interim decision has been published, thanks to which it became known about the divorce.
Xanthopoulos, referring to Forbes data, which has repeatedly included Rakshina in the top of the richest women in Russia, insists that her fortune cannot be less than 300,000,000 pounds. At the same time, the last time Rakshina appeared on the list in 2017 with a fortune of $ 75,000,000.
From the preliminary decision, you can also get information about the expenses of the parties for the trial. As already mentioned, they caused bewilderment in the judge, who called for limiting the amount of legal costs. In addition, it was noted that the participants repeatedly neglected their obligations and violated the requirements, for example, by providing multi-page statements of arguments, while the court limited them to 10 pages. The court rejected Xanthopoulos's motions to pay for the lawyer's services at the expense of the ex-wife's company, as they had already dropped out of the case and could become his personal creditors.
It is noted that the courts in London, which received the unofficial status of the capital of divorces, due to endless interim appeals, can last for years, which plays into the hands of lawyers who charge at least £ 200,000 for one active stage of the process. Therefore, overblown bills from lawyers are not uncommon.
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