A British woman left almost penniless by divorce goes to the Supreme Court this week in a case that will test London’s reputation as the divorce capital of the world.

Sikirat Agbaje, 68, is challenging a divorce award made in her native Nigeria and upheld by the Court of Appeal in London that left her with just under £7,000.

Her former husband, Olusola, 71, a barrister to whom she was married for 40 years, took £616,000, including two properties in London.

But Mrs Agbaje, of New Barnet, North London, argues that the divorce in 2005 should have been heard in Britain, where she would be entitled to a far bigger share of the assets.

She was successful in the High Court in London, where she was awarded £275,000, only for her former husband to take the case to the Court of Appeal, which to ruled that the original Nigerian award should stand.

Now, after several court hearings and rulings by six senior judges in London, at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds’ legal aid, the case is going before the Supreme Court.

Source: Times Online