[NY Daily News - February 13, 2008] - LONDON - A thaw in the chilly atmosphere outside the McCartney-Mills divorce court sparked speculation Tuesday that the warring couple might be close to making a deal.

"She's happy," said David Rosen, a lawyer advising Heather Mills, as the second day of the week-long settlement hearing ended.

Paul McCartney and Mills still avoided each other outside the courtroom.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Mills and McCartney are close to agreeing on a settlement. Legal experts believe Mills will ultimately win about $40 million.

Reports from the BBC quote Mills' father saying he expects the former Beatle bride to leave the UK when this is all over. Gentlemen....keep a close tab on your wallets!

[CNN and AP - February 11, 2008]

Paul McCartney and his estranged wife, Heather Mills, returned to a London court Monday for the second round of their high-profile divorce.

Mills, 40, looked tense and said nothing as she entered the courtroom wearing a gray suit and bright pink shirt. McCartney, 65, arrived after his estranged wife, wearing a gray pinstriped suit and a black-and-white wool scarf. He said "good morning" to a group of reporters as he entered court carrying a large black case.

Neither made further comments to reporters who gathered outside the courtroom door all day.

McCartney went into court accompanied by his lawyer, Fiona Shackleton. Mills, who fired her legal team late last year, is believed to be representing herself.

The terms of any settlement will not become public unless it is challenged in the Court of Appeal, or either of the parties chooses to reveal details. Even the size of McCartney's fortune is unknown. Some legal sources think it may be only $390 million, far less than the $1.6 billion give by the Sunday Times newspaper in its annual Rich List.

Press reports have suggested that McCartney has offered Mills around $50 million, and that she is seeking at least double that amount.

"Current estimates suggest that Heather is likely to receive anything from 50 million to 100 million pounds as her final settlement," said Suzanne Kingston, a family law expert. That sum is equivalent to $100 million to $200 million.

Legal experts said several factors that would be taken into account, including McCartney and Mills' 4-year-old daughter, Beatrice; the relative brevity of their marriage; and that most of McCartney's wealth was generated before he married Mills in 2002.

Mills parted company with lawyers Mishcon de Reya Solicitors in November, and also lost her press spokesman, after a series of interviews in which she accused McCartney of failing to protect her and Beatrice from abuse, which she says ranges from lies and slander to death threats.

"We've had death threats, I've been close to suicide. I'm so upset about this," she said in one of her November interviews. "I've had worse press than a pedophile or a murderer, and I've done nothing but charity for 20 years."

"I have protected Paul for this long and I am trying to protect him, but I am being pushed to the edge and I don't want my daughter when she is 12 going on the Internet and reading this totally one-sided story," she said.

Mills is a former model whose left leg was amputated below the knee after a motorcycle accident in 1993. She became active in campaigning against land mines and in favor of animal welfare.

The couple married in June 2002 — four years after the death of McCartney's first wife, Linda, from breast cancer. Beatrice was born in October the following year. McCartney and Mills announced their separation in 2006, and McCartney filed for divorce alleging "unreasonable behavior" by Mills.

There was no sign of a settlement at the end of the first of the five days that the case is scheduled to last.

Divorce proceedings in Britain are heard in private, and the door of Court 34 carried a sign saying "No Admittance -- Strictly Private," according to the Press Association.

McCartney, meanwhile, has kept silent about their split, with speculation that he is hoping Mills will do the same by signing a divorce settlement that will forbid her from talking about their relationship in the future.

The largest divorce settlement in the UK is the $93 million that businessman John Charman was told by the courts to pay his former wife in May last year.

At the time of their split, they insisted it was "amicable" despite widespread reports of a tempestuous relationship between McCartney and Mills, an ex-model.

McCartney About to Get Grilled in Court by Mills - Trial Starts Monday

[Music-news.com - February 5, 2008] - Sir Paul McCartney is set to be questioned in court by estranged wife Heather Mills.

The Beatles legend - worth an estimated $1.5 billion - faces a grilling from Heather next week, who is representing herself in their bitter divorce battle after parting ways from her legal team.

A source said: "This is it. This is the culmination of almost two years of fighting over money. It is not going to be pretty." The five-day closed hearing, which will be held in the family division of London's High Court before Mr. Justice Bennett, begins on Monday (February 8, 2008).

Heather is prepared to discuss intimate details about the marriage and will reportedly claim The Beatles legend was abusive after alcohol and drug binges.

Documents leaked last year alleged Paul was physically and verbally abusive toward Heather during their four-year marriage. A legal source said: "Should Heather attempt to bring up allegations of violence or other untoward behaviour it is for the judge to decide if this evidence has any relevance to her financial award."

The former model is expected to ask the judge to award her £50 million in the settlement, and will build her case on the premise that splitting from Paul, 65, has ruined her chance of being happy and successful.

The 40-year-old vegan is also believed to be ready to argue she has revived Paul's music career. Judge Bennett will also deal with custody and financial arrangements for the couple's four-year-old daughter Beatrice.

McCartney Might Settle With Heather Mills

[UK Daily Mail - January 22, 2008] - As their bitter divorce heads for the High Court, there appears to have been an eleventh-hour thawing of relations between Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills.

Apparently driven by news of Miss Mills's planned "blitzkrieg-style" tactics of representing herself in court next month, the Beatle has let it be known that he is ready to reconsider the possibility of an out-of-court settlement.

The Daily Mail has learned Miss Mills has been contacted by McCartney's legal team at Paynes Hicks Beach with the message: "Paul's ready to talk."

The pair are scheduled to face one another in a five-day hearing next month where Heather is to represent herself after parting company with her legal firm, Mishcon de Reya.

But McCartney has apparently had a sudden attack of anxiety about what might be said about the breakdown of the marriage.

McCartney and Mills have spoken "three or four" times in recent days over the phone, said a source close to both.

"One of the chats went on for at least 15 minutes, which is the longest they have spoken to one another in months and months.

"It seems that the mood has definitely changed and they are both now ready to resolve things more sensibly."

The Mail understands the main thrust of Miss Mills's case will be that marrying the former Beatle ruined any chance of her living a happy and successful life.

"She is going to say that before they met, people liked her and admired her, she was successful, she had her own career and her own income," the source said.

"She is going to say that when they got together, he stopped her from having a career.

"She is going to say that now that they have split, she is a hate figure and, as such, unemployable. Consequently, she will say, Paul should compensate her financially for the rest of her life.

"For a woman to argue that her future earning capacity has been damaged by her marriage in this way is extremely unusual but the judge may well consider that she has a point."

The source added that the irony is that she actually revived Sir Paul's career while she lost her own.

"Heather contends that she got Paul emotionally back on track when they first got together. When they first met, he was emotionally ruined by the death of (first wife) Linda - he was a lost soul. His music was not going anywhere.

"Heather will argue that the stability she gave him got his career back on track. And a financial settlement for her should also reflect her input in his career turning around."

McCartney is understood to fear what revelations Miss Mills might make in court about why the marriage broke down. Leaked legal documents alleged he was violent and cruel to his wife. But legal sources pointed out yesterday that while such revelations, even if they had any truth, might be damaging to his image, they would not actually impact on the settlement size.

Miss Mills has also been taking advice from friends on how to soften her prickly image ahead of the court date.

The source said: "When she appeared recently on GMTV, she didn't come across as vulnerable, sympathetic and fragile - she just came across as a bit unhinged. She knows she has this image problem and she has been trying to do something about it.

"She wants to come across less barmy and money-grabbing and more the wronged wife and mother." Publicists for Miss Mills and Sir Paul would not comment yesterday.