Englishman divorces wife in Scotland coz it's 'cheaper'

Tyrael · #1 16th-February-2008

Quote:

'My husband lured me to Scotland...knowing that divorce is cheaper there'

By Gavin Madeley and Beth Hale
Last updated at 23:06pm on 15th February 2008

When her estranged husband asked her to give their marriage a second chance, Frances Niznik was happy to agree.

With daughter Amelia to think about she was anxious to try again, so she uprooted from upmarket Henley-on-Thames and moved 400 miles north to Edinburgh.

But just a week into the trial reconciliation she was astonished when her wealthy fund manager husband Mark told her he was moving out.

He then swiftly filed for divorce in a Scottish court, which would give her a much smaller settlement than an English one.

English courts take into account bonus payments when assessing salary but Scottish divorce laws do not, which meant Mr Niznik could claim he earned a far smaller income.

Last night Mrs Niznik, 37, said the reconciliation appeared to her to be nothing more than a cynical attempt to exploit the differences in divorce law between England and Scotland.

"It's as if Mark lured me up just so he could divorce me in Scotland and protect his fortune," she said.

The couple married in 1999 and settled into a £420,000 two-bedroom cottage in Henley-on-Thames, in Oxfordshire.

Mr Niznik, now 40, worked as a highly successful fund manager, regularly pulling in six-figure bonuses.

Daughter Amelia soon arrived and for a while the couple were happy. But strain developed in the marriage and when Mr Niznik started a new job in Edinburgh in 2002 with Standard Life Investments, his wife stayed behind.
The couple lived separate lives until September of 2005, when 'like a bolt from the blue' Mr Niznik unexpectedly begged for a reconciliation.

"Mark suddenly began pleading with me to move up to Scotland so that we could be reconciled," said Mrs Niznik.

"He bombarded me with flowers and presents.

"We couldn't continue the way we were with him living in Edinburgh and me in Henley, so I wanted to try and see if we could get back together.

"I still had feelings for him and went up on a trial basis in the hope that things would work out for us."

She said that, unknown to her, her husband had already put her name on the electoral roll at the Edinburgh flat.

Within a week he said he was moving out.

In May 2006, Mrs Niznik filed for divorce in London. A month later, she received a summons advising her that her husband intended to divorce her under Scottish law.

With her name on the voters' roll, she was assumed to be domiciled in Scotland.

Mrs Niznik said: "The divorce was heard in Scotland, because he got it listed for March 2007 whereas my divorce petition was listed in the High Court in London for May 2007.

"I was told that a Scottish court wasn't going to give up its right to hear the case first.

"Because Scots law doesn't take account of bonus payments, Mark declared he was earning only £7,000 a month. His bonus package for 2006 alone was £243,875."

In the end, Mrs Niznik agreed to accept a lump sum of £750,000, including the former marital home.

She said: "It sounds a lot and I know I am much more fortunate than many other women. The mortgage on the house was paid off, but I was left without any pension rights and I have to pay legal bills of over £150,000.

"An English court would have given me monthly maintenance of several thousand pounds, plus I would have retained the rights to his pension."

She said the battle had been enormously stressful and costly.

"It is terrible that someone can switch legal jurisdictions like this.

"I am English, my ex-husband is English, we lived in England and it should have been an English court that settled our divorce."
She is now campaigning for a law change.

She plans to petition Gordon Brown and has been backed by senior Law Lord, Lord Hope of Craigend, a critic of Scots divorce laws who has written on her behalf to the independent law reform body, the Scottish Law Commission.

Mr Niznik now works as an ethical fund manager for Edinburgh-based Artemis, a specialist investment company.

Asked about his divorce, he said: "This is not something I want to comment about."

Article link

She's angry, but still gets more money then a lot of us will ever earn.

Men who are up to date with the crappy divorce laws will think of all kinds of stuff to soften or avoid the blow. That woman is complaining, but she could file for divorce and steal his money any time.

Feminist_Scum · #2 16th-February-2008

Read about this in the paper today. What a great guy.

Ledburian · #3 16th-February-2008

What a wise and very canny guy! Maybe we will now see a flood of guys enticing their lazy gold-digging spouses to move north of the border with the same idea in mind. Just one problem - with this publicity their wives wouldn't go along with it now would they? To them "Scotland" would mean a male cop out so no dice. You can bet this story will circulate as a "warnng to women" in all the feminist controlled media.......you can bet it will feature in "Woman's Hour" very soon......

By the way - Edinburgh is every bit as "up-market" as Henley-on-Thames, and it doesn't have a wacky, plummy voiced cycling old Etonian MP with a crazy mop of blond hair.....running for Mayor of London!

Feminist_Scum · #4 16th-February-2008

Bitch is complaining about getting a free house and money. Did she earn any of that money her self? I doubt it. She needs to fuck off back to the gutter I say!!

Major Tom · #5 16th-February-2008

Great article.

The lazy shit doesn't need fucking maintenance or a slice of his pension.
The greedy bitch is just sour because she didn't get any more of her husbands wealth stolen from him and given to her.

And now she wants to change the law to get her hands on more of his money?!

*sob* No fair! I didn't get his pension! No maintenance for meeeeeee! I want it! I want it! *stamps feet*

Alexandra · #6 16th-February-2008

Now switch the genders in this case...had it been the woman filing for the divorce, the feminazis would be all "You go girl!"

bobx23456 · #7 16th-February-2008

Boo Hoo! She's a "victim" doncha' know.

Mrs Niznik agreed to accept a lump sum of £750,000, including the former marital home.

It's terrible. She didn't get a whole million of her husband's hard earned money. She's a "victim" doncha' know.

What gold diggers like her deserve is a one way fishing trip to Loch Ness for a long visit with Nessie.

Blessings

Bob

**Percy** · #8 17th-February-2008

Sounds like he was a true Scot all along.

As for this wisearse remark:

Quote:

By the way - Edinburgh is every bit as "up-market" as Henley-on-Thames, and it doesn't have a wacky, plummy voiced cycling old Etonian MP with a crazy mop of blond hair.....running for Mayor of London!

Even from way over here, Boris looks a far, far better man for Lord Mayor of London than "Red" Ken Livingstone. Ledburian just might have lead in his head.

Not like Alex:

Quote:

Now switch the genders in this case...had it been the woman filing for the divorce, the feminazis would be all "You go girl!"

Yep, that would heve been their encouraging cry, and we can say the same for this chap.

Alexandra · #9 17th-February-2008

You say Scot?

I had a Scottish great-great-grandfather on my grandmother's side, and a Scottish great-great-great-grandmother on my grandfather's side.

(Clan Rose represent!)

Can't say I blame this guy...not wanting to be taken to the cleaners.

yohan · #10 17th-February-2008

He was living and working in Scotland for years already and paid his taxes in Scotland. Why should the divorce procedure not be carried out in Scotland?

She got something like 1.5 million USD, she is healthy, 37 y. o. and the marriage lasted only for 3 years. Why should he be subject to pay her alimony and even give her a part of his retirement decades after this divorce up to the end of her life?

I think the Scotland divorce court was fair.

She still got a lot of money - UK divorce laws should be changed, as they favour mostly women - even those women, who are cheating the husband, even those with paternity fraud.

UK divorce laws discourage men to marry and to consider family life.

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Englishman divorces wife in Scotland coz it's 'cheaper'

Englishman divorces wife in Scotland coz it's 'cheaper'

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