McCartney, Mills set for a face-off

McCartney is set to pay £55m in Britain’s highest divorce settlement

LONDON: Paul McCartney and former model Heather Mills lock horns in a British divorce court on Monday in their battle over how big a slice she will take of the former Beatle's fortune. After a marriage that lasted less than four years, Mills is believed to be seeking about £30 million from McCartney, who is worth an estimated £825 million. Legal experts say McCartney, 65, has offered less than half that sum to the 40-year-old Mills.

Their courtroom tussle, behind closed doors, is likely to last five days and the judge is expected to opt for a figure midway between the two extremes. The case, one of the biggest divorce actions to come before a British court, is expected to establish legal guidelines on just how much the spouses of the very wealthy can expect after relatively short marriages.

Their acrimonious separation, fought out under the harsh glare of the media spotlight, will enter its final stages in Court 34 of London's ornate Royal Courts of Justice.

At the end of the McCartney-Mills hearings, the judge will almost certainly reserve his judgment and give a written decision at a later date.