Mills to get $48.6M in McCartney divorce case

The former Beatle left the court without making a statement.

LONDON (AP) — Paul McCartney was ordered Monday to pay Heather Mills $48.6 million to settle their divorce.

A document released by the Family Court said the judge awarded Mills a lump sum of $33 million plus the assets she currently holds worth $15.6 million.

“I’m so, so happy with this,” Mills told reporters after the closed hearing.

The court also ruled that the couple’s 4-year-old daughter Beatrice should receive a “periodical payments order” of $70,000 per annum. On top of that, McCartney will pay for the child’s nanny and school fees.

“I’m so glad it’s over,” Mills said at her impromptu news conference.

McCartney left the court without making any statement.

While pleased with the financial settlement, Mills intends to appeal to prevent publication of the details of the settlement for the couple’s daughter.

McCartney, 65, and Mills, 40, went to court last month to decide on Mills’ share of his fortune, which had been estimated at as much as $1.6 billion.

Judge Hugh Bennett, however, found that the total value of all of McCartney’s assets, including his business assets, was about $800 million.

Mills said the settlement vindicated her decision to fire her lawyers. The legal fees, she said, instead “could easily go to charity.”

Mills had sought almost $250 million, while McCartney had said she should receive $31.6 million, including her own assets, which the court assessed at $15.6 million.

She had harsh words for McCartney’s lawyer, Fiona Shackleton, who was well known for representing Prince Charles in his divorce from Diana, Princess of Wales.

The settlement has been a long time coming for the couple, who separated two years ago, after four years of marriage. At the time they said the parting was “amicable” and insisted “both of us still care about each other very much.”

But the split has grown fractious since McCartney filed for divorce alleging his wife’s “unreasonable behavior.”

Mills — a former model whose left leg was amputated below the knee after a motorcycle accident in 1993 — claimed McCartney had failed to protect her and their daughter from slander, death threats and other abuse, and accused the media of persecuting her.

McCartney met Mills in 1999, the year after the death from breast cancer of his first wife, Linda.

Mills and McCartney married at an Irish castle in June 2002. The couple’s daughter was born in 2003.