SOUTH AFRICA: DETAILS OF EARL SPENCER'S DIVORCE SETTLEMENT - YouTube
SOUTH AFRICA: DETAILS OF EARL SPENCER'S DIVORCE SETTLEMENT
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Published on Jul 21, 2015
English/Nat
Details of the divorce settlement being offered by Earl Spencer, the brother of the late Princess of Wales, have emerged for the first time.
He is prepared to pay his estranged wife a five hundred thousand (U-S) dollar lump sum as well as provide a monthly income, car and  house in South Africa.
The Spencers divorce has become increasingly bitter, with lurid newspaper headlines detailing claims the Earl had numerous adulterous affairs.
The Cape Town court is being asked to consider Earl Spencer's request that the divorce case be settled in his adopted home of South Africa.
His estranged wife, the former model Victoria Lockwood, wants it heard in Britain where, the court had heard, she is likely to get a larger share of the Earl's fortune.
Lawyers for the Countess - who he married in 1989 - are seeking a settlement of 6.3 million (m) U-S dollars.
The details of the settlement Spencer is offering were made public to reporters outside the court by his lawyer.
It would provide the countess with a monthly after tax income of 4,166 dollars (U-S), a lump sum of half a million (m) dollars (U-S), her house and contents in Cape Town worth 416,000 dollars (U-S), a car and full medical insurance.
Earl Spencer inherited the family fortune upon the death of his father - including the ancestral home, Althorp House, here in the U-K.
It is the burial place of the Earl's sister - Diana, Princess of Wales.
According to figures mentioned in court on Wednesday, Spencer has a personal fortune of 10 million (m) U-S dollars and an annual income before taxes of 1.7 (m) dollars.
His total estate, however, is estimated to be worth about 170 million
(m) dollars.
The Earl has said he cannot afford the settlement request of his estranged wife because most of his money is tied up in trusts.
And since the burial of his sister on the estate, he claims he needs to start extensive work to secure Althorp against intruders.
In court on Thursday, the Earl's lawyer said if a British court awards his estranged wife an excessive sum of cash from their bitter divorce, he would appeal the decision - so protracting the case further.
The divorce hearing has created headlines all around the world after the countess's legal team alleged the earl had affairs with up to a dozen women during the marriage.
And in South Africa some local newspapers have broken regulations concerning the coverage of divorce cases.
However, late Thursday night, the Cape Times and Cape Argus newspapers agreed to halt such coverage after Spencer took them to court.
A hearing on that case will take place Saturday.
SOUNDBITE: (English)