A British citizen who was unhappy with a divorce settlement awarded to her by a Nigerian court is eligible to receive a much larger lump sum, Britain's highest court ruled on Wednesday.

The landmark ruling is likely to encourage a flurry of similar claims, fuelling London's reputation as the divorce payout capital, lawyers said.

Olusola and Sikirat Agbaje, who spent most of their 38-year marriage in Nigeria but were given British citizenship in 1972, separated in 1999 when Sikirat Agbaje came to live in London with her five children.

After being awarded a lump sum equivalent to C$32,000 and a life interest in a Lagos property by a Nigerian court, Agbaje asked the U.K. courts for help under a law which enables financial relief to be granted when a marriage is dissolved in a foreign country.

"It was not so much that there was a very large disparity between what the wife received in Nigeria and what she would have received in England," said Supreme Court judge Lord Collins. "But , there was also a very large disparity between what the husband received and what the wife received, such as to create real hardship and a serious injustice."

A High Court judge in London awarded her £275,000 (C$422,000), a decision initially overruled on appeal but reinstated by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

http://www.windsorstar.com/news/court+Nigerian+divorce+payout/2669133/story.html