Case No. ZZ20D49528

15.The husband is 42 and the wife is 41. The husband is Greek but was born, and has spent much of his life, in Russia. He describes himself as a homemaker. The wife is Russian. She holds a senior position at Maria-Ra, an extremely large retail grocery business in Russia which I am told has some 1,300 outlets. The value of her interest in that business is a central dispute in these proceedings. The husband’s case is that the wife is very wealthy: he suggests that Forbes have named her as the 75th richest woman in Russia and says that, on a conservative estimate, her corporate interests are worth in excess of £300 million.16.The parties began cohabiting (according to the husband) in 1999. It is not clear whether the wife accepts that date of cohabitation. They were married in Moscow on 25 March 2006. The parties separated (according to the husband) on 14 September 2020 or (according to the wife) on 21 September 2020. The husband’s English divorce petition was issued on 21 September 2020. The wife instituted parallel divorce proceedings in Russia. Despite there being a Hemain injunction in force against the wife, on 11 March 2021 a court in Russia pronounced a divorce on the wife’s application. 17.Unsurprisingly, the husband has been highly critical of the circumstances in which the Russian divorce was obtained. In any event, on 15 June 2021 the parties agreed that, on condition the husband would not challenge the Russian divorce, the financial proceedings would be reconfigured to proceed under Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984.18.The relationship produced two children, one aged 15 and the other aged 5. In the 18 months since September 2020, the parties have litigated furiously about their two daughters. The litigation about the children has reached a conclusion in a judgment recently given by Sir Jonathan Cohen (“the children judgment”) which:i)Declared that on 27 October 2020, when the wife issued child arrangement proceedings in Russia, the children were habitually resident in that country; and ii)Recognised a Russian child arrangements decision made on 18 March 2021 providing that the children should live with the wife and permitting her to take them to Russia.19.Subject to any appeal by the husband, that judgment concludes the dispute about the children.20.The wife remains living in a property held in her sole name located in a prestigious area of London. The wife estimates that property is worth £5.25 million. The husband is living in rented accommodation, which is being funded by the wife pursuant to an interim order at a cost of £10,000 per month, in a similarly affluent area of London. 21.The parties have exchanged Forms E. As I have referred to in passing above, their financial circumstances can be summarised in broad terms as follows:i)The property in London in which the wife and the children are living is said to have a value of £5.25 million. This property is subject to an injunction restraining the wife from dealing with it. ii)The wife owns an adjacent property which is also said to have a value of £5.25 million. The wife says that the entire purchase price of the property was funded by her brother with the intention that she hold it on bare trust for him; she therefore says that she has no beneficial interest in this property. This property is subject to an injunction in the same terms as the family home.iii)There is real property located in Russia with a combined value of approximately £1 million. I anticipate there will be arguments as to the current value and realisability of these resources in light of the current geopolitical climate. iv)The Coutts account holds approximately £11 million. v)There are various other accounts in this jurisdiction and overseas holding comparatively modest sums. vi)Both parties have various liabilities. In the context of this hearing, the most relevant liabilities are those that the parties have to (in the husband’s case) former solicitors and (in the wife’s case) current solicitors.vii)The wife has an interest in the business, as I have referred to above. It appears that the true beneficial ownership of the wife’s interest in the same is in dispute, but the wife has not fully articulated her case on this issue so far. As above, the husband suggests that the wife’s corporate interests are conservatively worth more than £300 million. 22.Following separation in September 2020, the parties have been engaged in near-constant litigation about every conceivable issue. I am told that they have spent more than 40 days of the past year in court. There have been various interlocutory skirmishes. For the purposes of this judgment, I set out only the most important events.23.On 22 January 2021, a legal services payment order was made in the husband’s favour of £750,000 to be paid at the rate of £150,000 per month. This award was designed to take the husband to the conclusion of the hearing to determine jurisdiction in the children proceedings and the divorce and proposed mediation.24.As I have noted above, on 15 June 2021 the parties agreed to reconfigure the husband’s application for financial relief so that it would proceed under Part III. The wife also gave the undertaking that is the subject of her present application. 25.On 14 October 2021, an order was made providing that the wife was released from the undertaking to enable the payment out of the Coutts account of £590,355 to the husband’s solicitors and £496,267 to the wife’s solicitors. Those funds were supposed to take the parties to the conclusion of the hearing listed before Sir Jonathan Cohen commencing on 22 November 2021 with a time estimate of seven days and the First Appointment in the Part III proceedings which, at that time, was listed on 25 November 2021.26.On 4 November 2021, the wife’s application made in advance of the hearing to be released from the undertaking was adjourned to be considered at the First Appointment. The First Appointment was adjourned from 25 November 2021 as that date fell in the middle of the hearing listed before Sir Jonathan Cohen commencing on 22 November 2021. The First Appointment has now been fixed for 28 April 2022.27.On 15 March 2022, a further order was made releasing the sum of £110,000 from the Coutts account being £90,000 to satisfy arrears of interim maintenance (including for the husband’s rent) and £20,000 to the wife for her own living expenses. Directions were made at that hearing timetabling the husband’s further application for a legal services payment order to this hearing. 28.The husband applied in Form D11 on 15 March 2022 for orders under section 22ZA of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, and Paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989 that the wife pay his costs to date and on an ongoing basis. The reference to the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 was an obvious error but that is of no consequence. In the body of the application notice, it is said that a considerable amount of work had to be undertaken that was not envisaged at the time of Holman J’s order on 14 October 2021 and that is why the husband now sought more than was then provided for. As at 23 December 2021, the husband’s solicitors’ incurred costs were said to have been £783,751.36. By 15 March 2022, some £240,211.65 was outstanding. 29.In a letter to the wife’s solicitors dated 21 March 2022, the husband’s solicitors clarified that they sought the release of funds from the Coutts account totalling some £1 million for the husband and £500,000 for the wife (a total of £1.5 million). 30.The husband applied in Form C2 dated 22 March 2022 seeking orders under Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989, Paragraph 1, and/or in accordance with the so-called Currey principles that the wife pay his costs to date and on an ongoing basis. This application effectively mirrored the application dated 15 March 2022 in that it sought the same substantive relief albeit via a different procedural route.31.The wife applied in Form D11 dated 25 March 2022 seeking a partial release from her undertaking given on 15 June 2021 to enable the release of sums from the Coutts account to pay for both parties’ legal fees in an amount to be determined at this hearing. 32.In a letter to the husband’s solicitors also dated 25 March 2022, the wife’s solicitors explained that they proposed the release of some £200,000 to the husband and £340,000 for the wife (a total of £540,000). It was also proposed in the same letter, in respect of the Part III proceedings, that the wife be released from her undertaking in respect of the Coutts account at least for the purpose of meeting her reasonable legal costs and that each time the wife made a payment for legal costs to her solicitors that an equivalent sum be paid (plus VAT) to the husband’s solicitors.33.The wife applied in Form D11 dated 28 March 2022 seeking (i) an order vacating the hearing on 30 March 2022; and (ii) an order that the husband’s application for a legal services payment order be dismissed on the basis that £80,610 is released from the Coutts account to fund her costs to the First Appointment and £96,732 be released to the husband’s solicitors to fund his costs to the First Appointment (being the sum of £80,610 plus VAT). 34.The husband’s (now former) solicitors, Penningtons Manches Cooper, applied in Form D11 dated 28 March 2022 for an order pursuant to FPR rule 26.3 that they be removed from the court record. I granted the application on 29 March 2022.