Sir Paul McCartney could have escaped with paying his wife, Heather, just 1 million for each of their four years of marriage had he joined a growing trend for pre-nuptial agreements, divorce lawyers claimed yesterday.
An increasing number of wealthy Britons are taking their advice, putting bank balances before romance and insisting on agreements to try to protect their millions if their marriages fail.
Although not legally binding under English law, most divorce lawyers believe that properly drawn up pre-nups will have a huge bearing on "big-money" settlements.
One law firm has seen the work grow up to 12 fold in the past three years. Vanessa Lloyd Platt, a specialist in divorce law, said she would have suggested that Sir Paul had done a deal allowing Lady McCartney 1 million for every year of marriage.
"It is sweet that Sir Paul believed in unequivocal and unconditional love but it will be the most costly decision he has ever made," said Miss Lloyd Platt, who expects that the musician will have to pay a settlement of 50 million.
The lawyer, who represented the television personalities Anne Diamond and Les Dennis in their respective divorces, said: "Even though Britain is the divorce capital of the world, we cling on to the idea that it is dirty to talk finances before a marriage. Attitudes need to change.
"I have seen a significant upsurge in the numbers wanting to sign a pre-nup. It has been particularly noticeable among women, some of whom want to protect substantial divorce settlements before marrying again."
Philip Rutter, a senior divorce lawyer from the London firm Collyer-Bristow, said that wives seeking divorces from wealthy husbands now tended to be far more vigorous in searching out spousal assets, even using private detectives to trace undisclosed wealth.
Miss Lloyd Platt added that it was increasingly common for wives and husbands whose spouses had wealthy, elderly parents to press for a larger settlement.
Sometimes courts adjourned settlements until the death of such parents.
But the 63-year-old ex-Beatle, who announced the couple's separation last week, refused to sign a pre-nup and now faces a fight over the division of his 825 million fortune.
He also dismissed critics' suggestions that his 38-year-old ex-model wife was a gold-digger, even though he may have to pay her many tens of millions of pounds.
But for all his concern that love should come before money, Sir Paul has one potential trump card up his sleeve: the "spark of genius" argument, which could mean that his unique musical talent protects his fortune to a greater extent than that of other wealthy men.
The principle has its roots in the unglamorous world of bin bags.
In 2001, Michael Cowan successfully argued that his wife, Jacqueline, had played no part in his amassing a 12 million fortune - and he was therefore granted the bulk of the money for his "Midas touch" in pioneering the use of the bags.
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