High Net Worth Divorce Solicitors London

With top ratings in Chambers UK, Chambers HNW and The Legal 500 UK guides, the department is recognised as frequently advising in some of the most high-value and high-profile matrimonial finance cases in the market, including cases involving complex asset structures, offshore trusts, international property portfolios and substantial business interests. We are trusted by entrepreneurs, business owners, professionals and families with significant assets across multiple jurisdictions.

In 2024, Payne Hicks Beach won Family Law Team of the Year at the Chambers HNW Awards. We are also recognised by ePrivateclient (Tier 1), Doyle’s Guide (First Tier, with Baroness Shackleton rated Preeminent) and the Spear’s Family Lawyers Index.

High net worth divorce cases typically involve complex assets and we are adept in understanding the intricacies of complicated structures including: privately held businesses and shareholdings; family companies businesses held through complex corporate structures; private equity interests; carried interest, and deferred compensation arrangements; offshore trusts and foundations;; international property portfolios spanning multiple jurisdictions; pension arrangements;; pre-acquired and inherited wealth;; cryptocurrency and digital assets; and art, jewellery, antiques and wine and other high-value chattels requiring specialist valuation.

Particular complexity arises in cases involving businesses, where the court must determine the value of illiquid holdings, and in cases involving offshore trusts, where the court will look beyond legal formalities to assess whether a party has genuine access to trust assets. The treatment of pre-acquired and inherited wealth remains one of the most actively developing areas of family law. In Standish v Standish [2025] UKSC 26, the Supreme Court clarified that the sharing principle applies only to matrimonial property, and that non-matrimonial property will typically be excluded from the sharing exercise (although assets may be invaded to meet needs). Assets that initially were characterised as non-matrimonial may become matrimonialised depending on how the parties treated the assets during the marriage. PHB appeared in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court in Standish. We have extensive experience advising on the classification and protection of non-matrimonial assets, and our family team works alongside our private client and trusts specialists to provide coordinated advice on trust-related issues – a genuine differentiator from firms without that in-house capability.

High net worth family law cases often require input from other disciplines, including tax planning, wealth protection, business succession, reorganisation or creation of trust structures and property arrangements. As a multi-service firm, we offer comprehensive support across wealth, tax, business and private client matters, delivering a coordinated strategy.

When advising the spouse of a private equity partner on the division of carried interest and deferred compensation, our family team worked alongside our tax and corporate specialists to structure a settlement that minimised the tax exposure for both parties. This outcome would not have been possible without integrated advice.

We understand that privacy and discretion are of critical importance to our clients. As well as being seasoned litigators, we are also highly experienced in all aspects of non-court dispute resolution, including arbitration, mediation, and private hearings. For high net worth clients, the management of privacy is often as important as the financial outcome. We are experienced in using the court’s lock and key procedure to keep divorce proceedings private, and in structuring matters through private arbitration to ensure that neither the identity of the parties nor the terms of any settlement enter the public domain.

We represented a client whose divorce, had it been conducted through the courts, would have attracted significant public attention. By steering the matter through private arbitration, we secured a fair financial outcome while ensuring that the settlement terms and the parties’ identities remained entirely out of the public domain.

Many of the cases that we deal with involve business assets, complex structures, or international holdings. We regularly act in cases where one party alleges that the other has not been fully transparent with their disclosure and believes that there are unidentified assets. In such cases, we instruct expert forensic accountants to trace concealed assets and analyse financial transactions; business valuation experts to assess shareholdings, partnerships, and corporate interests; pension specialists; and international counsel to recover overseas assets and enforce orders globally.

In a recent matter, we worked with forensic accountants to investigate a series of pre-proceedings transactions through which one spouse had moved significant assets into offshore structures in anticipation of divorce. The investigation enabled us to recover the full value of those assets and obtain adverse cost orders against the non-disclosing party.

Increasingly, family law matters involve multiple jurisdictions, complex international assets and require input from lawyers in other jurisdictions. We have significant experience handling multi-jurisdictional matters and can recommend a network of international contacts to assist. We acted for Mr Vladimir Potanin in the landmark Supreme Court case of Potanina v Potanin [2024] UKSC 3, which clarified the test for permission to bring applications under Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984.

Case example: We advised a dual-nationality client whose spouse had commenced divorce proceedings in two jurisdictions at the same time. By successfully establishing that England and Wales was the appropriate forum, we secured a significantly more favourable outcome than would have been available under the alternative jurisdiction’s legal framework.