The High Court has approved a highly unusual settlement arising out of a long drawn out acrimonious divorce. On Friday Sir Geoffrey Vos, chancellor of the High Court, endorsed the payment of £282 million from the Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), a charity set up by the warring couple, Sir Christopher Hohm and his former wife Jamie Cooper, to Ms. Cooper's new project, Big Win Philanthropy. Sir Christopher had strongly opposed the payout contending that charity money should not be part of a divorce deal; his arguments were brushed aside by Sir Geoffrey saying that the benefits to the charity outweighed the arguments against it. Ms. Cooper has volunteered a donation of £32 million if the transaction takes place. Sir Geoffrey further pointed out that the payment will conclude a long and incredibly hostile dispute.
The original divorce settlement in 2014 was for a record £700 million in assets but in April 2015 it was changed to include the condition that Ms. Cooper would resign as a trustee and Sir Christopher would grant her new charity around one third of his fortune (£337 million). The couple continued to haggle, Sir Christopher now arguing that it would set a poor precedent if charitable funds were allowed to be used to resolve divorce disputes and that such a payment should not be made to secure Ms. Cooper's resignation. Ms. Cooper's QC argued that the money would "unleash her (Ms. Cooper's) creativity and her capacity to contribute to the public benefit".
It may well be that in the future similar decisions will be seen in the courts to draw a long and arduous matter to a close.
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