The case for good legacy planning

When well-heeled married couples call it quits, where their divorce is heard matters as much as how their assets are divvied up.

Published Fri, Jun 19, 2015 · 09:50 PM

Wealth management

Lately, the titanic divorce battle between Malaysian tycoon Khoo Kay Peng, the non-executive chairman of Laura Ashley, and his wife, Pauline Chai, has been making media waves.

The battle lines have been drawn. Dr Khoo has chosen Kuala Lumpur as his field of warfare, but Ms Chai prefers to engage swords in London, going so far as to disclose to the English High Court that she keeps 1,000 pairs of designer shoes in her sprawling estate in Hertfordshire in order for the court to agree to take jurisdiction.

Thus far, she has successfully obtained a court order in England for her husband to pay her an interim maintenance.

Dr Khoo's position is that under Malaysian law, a wife's domicile follows that of her husband. Presumably, both parties believe that Ms Chai would be entitled to a lesser payout if the divorce …