New York, NY- The divorce between Peter Lawrence, a banker for JP Morgan, and Donald Gallagher, an actor, who appeared in “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” has been tied up in courts for a couple of years. But a UK court has finally made a decision and awarded Gallagher 33 percent of the couple’s marital assets.
This is a landmark settlement and the largest ever awarded to a civil-partnership divorce. Originally, a lower court awarded Gallagher 42 percent, but the Supreme just overturned that decision. Divorce lawyers in the country say this is the largest settlement ever awarded in a civil union.
In the UK, gays are not allowed to get married and are the only ones eligible for a civil union. Though Prime Minister David Cameron says he is in favor of giving gays the right to marry.
Initially, Lawrence had attempted to have their assets accumulated during their 11 year relationship considered a “dual-career partnership,” which would have limited the settlement Gallagher received based on how much they earned, but the court threw out that notion.
Divorce attorneys and courts in both the U.K. and the U.S. are still unsure how to treat gay marriages or civil unions and in the U.K. this case set a precedent and moved the country towards U.S. style divorces.
In the U.S., divorce attorneys are often able to get a more evenly divided divorce settlement for the client’s they represent.
