The High Court, high profile, Young divorce case has again hit the headlines as Mrs Young has received an offer of funding to find out what happened to the £400m fortune her husband is said to have had just 3 years ago. Mr Young now says he is £27m in debt, which is not accepted by Mrs Young and her legal team.
In order to get to the bottom of this case of the disppearing millions Mrs Young has received an offer from Harbour Litigation Funding to fund her case on a type of 'no win no fee' basis - similar to the funding arrangement offered by personal injury litigation lawyers.
Harbour Litigation Funding more usually provide funding for commercial litigation cases: does Harbour's involvement in this divorce case signal a new era for funding family proceedings?
Clearly the signifcant sums potentially involved in the Young case will not be applicable to most divorcing couples, and the share Harbour stands to receive from any settlement awarded to Mrs Young is likely to be significant.
However this is a significant departure from the usual litigation loan arrangements offered in mid to high net worth cases, where interest is paid during the case and the loan itself repaid at the end irrespective of the outcome. It also goes against the recent trend of marked caution on the part of lending institutions in respect of funding generally in divorce cases, due to the worldwide recession.
This case may be the beginning of no win no fee type funding for divorce cases, at least where the potential success fee is likely to be significant and worth the risk. Boris Johnson has pointed out that this development may just cement the UK's reputation as the divorce capital of the world.
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