The Court of Appeal in England and Wales has allowed Natalia Potanina to pursue a multi‑billion divorce claim against her ex‑husband Vladimir Potanin over his stake in Norilsk Nickel, reviving a long‑running dispute despite a prior Russian settlement.

How the claim reached London The Court of Appeal found that Natalia Potanina has a sufficient connection to England and Wales to pursue a Part III claim under the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984. The judgment lets her seek financial relief in London despite a prior divorce settlement in Russia. Potanina first applied to the English courts in 2019. The appeal decision revived a long‑running dispute that began after the couple split and divorced in Russia in 2014. Potanina moved to the United Kingdom after the Russian proceedings, purchasing a home in Westminster; the Court of Appeal said that was enough to establish jurisdiction for the purposes of a Part III claim. Vladimir Potanin’s legal team challenged that finding and asked the UK Supreme Court to overturn the appeal court. They argued the English system encourages wealthy litigants to shop for favourable forums. Edward Faulks, acting for Mr. Potanin, told judges the English courts “are renowned for their generosity” in divorce cases and warned against what he described as the incentive to forum‑shop in high‑value disputes. What Potanina is seeking Potanina is pursuing a share of Mr. Potanin’s stake in MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC and related dividend streams. Her lawyers estimated in 2019 that the claim could be worth as much as $9 billion. Conservative descriptions in court filings and reporting have said the potential award would exceed $5 billion, given Mr. Potanin’s holding of roughly one‑third of Norilsk Nickel. In the Russian divorce proceedings that followed the end of their marriage, Ms. Potanina received what English judges later described as a “paltry award.” She has said she took about $40 million in that settlement; Mr. Potanin has said she received $84 million. The contrast between those figures and the scale of his reported wealth helped drive the English litigation. Vladimir Potanin’s personal wealth is widely reported. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index placed his net worth at about $29.3 billion at the time of various reports, making him one of Russia’s richest individuals. Potanina is seeking an equal split — effectively 50% of the value attributed to marital assets linked to his Norilsk stake and past dividends, though practical enforcement and valuation would be complex. Costs, precedent and courtroom dynamics The case has already generated heavy legal costs and lengthy delay. By January 2022, court filings showed Mr. Potanin had spent about £8.4 million on legal fees, while Ms. Potanina had incurred roughly £1.4 million. Lawyers for Ms. Potanina told the court the expense and delay had been “eye‑watering” with little substantive progress for years. London has a track record of handling very large financial remedy claims between high‑net‑worth individuals. The largest publicly known English award recorded in prior cases was £450 million in one divorce — a figure that, in practice, was settled for substantially less than the headline number. Family law practitioners say the English approach, which can look to equal sharing in long marriages, makes the jurisdiction attractive to claimants who argue foreign outcomes were unfair.

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Frances Hughes, a partner at Hughes Fowler Carruthers, said her client was "delighted" that the Court of Appeal had recognised the merits of her application.

This article was created with AI assistance.