A billionaire who is currently embroiled in a court battle with his estranged wife has told a High Court judge he doesn’t want to pay her more than $50 million (£45m) as he thinks their children should ‘learn the value of money’.
Michael Fuchs, who co-owns New York’s Chrysler Building, told Mr Justice Mostyn that children who are spoilt with luxuries grow up to be ‘jaded’.
The High Court judge has been tasked with deciding how much the 62-year-old should pay out to his estranged wife Alvina Collardeau-Fuchs, 47, following their marriage breakdown.
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Prior to their wedding day, the couple had signed a prenuptial agreement.
Speaking at a preliminary hearing earlier this year, the billionaire said: “I believe that smothering them in luxuries makes them jaded.
“I want them to learn the value of money.”
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The couple married in 2012 and lived together in London, but separated in 2020.
They have two young children together.
The judge was told Fuchs has had an ‘extraordinarily successful career’ and owned a 'very significant amount of prime midtown Manhattan real estate' prior to his marriage.
In court documents, Fuchs has said he is worth around $1.1 billion (£98m).
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Collardeau-Fuchs is asking for more than $50 million in the settlement - which includes a $1.3m (£1.2m) payout for child maintenance, Bloomberg reports.
Fuchs' team say the child maintenance claim is actually a spousal one ‘in disguise’ and have countered with an offer of around $33 million (£29m).
In legal papers, Fuchs’ legal team have said the amount Collardeau-Fuchs asked for is based on ‘greed not need’.
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Patrick Chamberlayne, who is representing Fuchs, said in court documents that Collardeau-Fuchs ‘wants to live like a billionaire, having signed an agreement that she will live like a mere multi-millionaire’.
The lawyers also said Collardeau-Fuchs child maintenance claim is actually a spousal claim ‘in disguise’.
However Collardeau-Fuchs team have argued that she requires the large sum of money because she became accustomed to living a lavish lifestyle while the pair were married.
Alongside their swish London property, the couple also owned homes in New York and the South of France - all of which were ‘fully staffed’.
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Collardeau-Fuchs’s lawyer, Nicholas Cusworth, told the court that during their marriage the couple ‘spent according to their means which were effectively unlimited’.
Mr Justice Mostyn is expected to deliver his ruling over the settlement amount later this year.
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Claire Reid