Dubai’s ruler has been ordered to provide his estranged wife and their children at least 554 million pounds ($734 million) in the largest financial award the U.K. family courts have ever seen.
A London judge ordered Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to pay Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein 251.5 million pounds within three months to cover security and lost items like jewelery and clothing.
He was also orderd to make annual payments of around 11 million pounds toward costs for his children while they are in education, which will be secured by a 290 million-pound bank guarantee, the judge ruled.
The remaining millions account for backdated sums and a learning fund.
Judge Philip Moor said in a ruling published on Tuesday that this would provide Princess Haya with a clean break from the sheikh following their divorce.
“Sheikh, who didn’t give evidence in the case, has brought the unusually high award for security on himself, after another judge found that he ordered the hacking of phones belonging to her and her legal team.
The total amount the sheikh will have to pay to his family is likely to be much higher because of annual security costs he must pay directly to his children after they’ve completed education,” said the judge.
London’s family courts have been a popular destination for high-value legal fights, with judges typically prepared to order a more equal share of a couple’s assets.
Before Tuesday’s decision, the largest publicly known judge-ordered award in a divorce was 450 million pounds to the wife of billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov though the two settled with a payment of less than one-third of that amount.
Over the past two years, London’s courts have played host to a number of explosive allegations and rulings concerning the Dubai royal family.
