Potanina v Potanin – 11 years after their Russian divorce, Mrs Potanina has been granted leave to pursue a financial claim in England

Today’s Court of Appeal judgment in Potanina v Potanin [2025] EWCA Civ 1136 is the latest instalment in litigation that has been running for more than a decade, following Mr and Mrs Potanin’s divorce in Russia in 2014.

In Russia Mrs Potanina received “a tiny fraction” of the parties’ estimated $20bn wealth built up during the 30-year marriage that produced three children and saw Mr Potanin rise as an oligarch after the fall of the Soviet Union. In the Russian proceedings, it was only the wealth in the parties’ sole/joint names that was taken into account but Mrs Potanina complained that this failed to take any account of the vast majority of the wealth held beneficially for the husband via trusts and companies. She subsequently moved to England and sought leave to pursue a financial claim in England following the Russian proceedings.

Phase one of Mrs Potanina’s claim in England reached the Supreme Court, with the result see-sawing at each stage between husband and wife.  In the last stage, before today’s Court of Appeal decision, the UK Supreme Court allowed the appeal by Mr Potanin. However, in a rare move it remitted the case to the Court of Appeal to consider two of Mrs Potanina’s grounds of appeal and whether, on the principles determined by the Supreme Court, she should have permission to pursue her financial claim in England following their Russian divorce.

A unanimous Court of Appeal has now granted her leave to bring her application under Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984, Mrs Potanina having succeeded on both grounds of appeal being considered.  In the court’s view there was a significant discrepancy between what Mrs Potanina recovered in Russia compared to what she would have received had the case been heard in England and the court is in “…little difficulty in concluding that [Mrs Potanina] had substantial, solid, ground for making an application for financial relief…” following her Russian divorce. The Court of Appeal recognised that the chapter that has unfolded in the English courts alone has already taken nearly seven years. With leave having now finally been granted, the application has been remitted to the High Court for substantive consideration of the claim.

And so family lawyers – and wealthy international families alike - shall have to continue to “watch this space” to see how the next chapter will unfold but the firm signal from the Court of Appeal is that the door to such claims is open.