Paul McCartney, Heather Mills Settle Divorce

Paul McCartney and Heather Mills settled their divorce today when Mills was awarded 24.3 million pounds (about $48.4 million CAD).

Judge Hugh Bennett said McCartney must pay Mills a lump sum of 16.5 million pounds (about $33 million CAD), along with 7.8 million pounds (about $15.5 million CAD) for her assets and homes. Further, Beatrice, McCartney and Mills' four-year-old daughter, will receive about 35,000 pounds (about $70,000 CAD) a year from McCartney, in addition to childcare and school fees, that he will also pay. McCartney left the court smiling, but did not make a statement.

Although Mills told reporters she was "so happy with this" and was "glad it's over" after the hearing closed, she later told Britain's Daily Mail she was upset with McCartney, his lawyer Fiona Shackleton and the settlement. She said she will not appeal the settlement, however, and says the judge should not have made the settlement public.

"I'm not appealing against the judgment because it's not worth it," she told reporters. "I'm appealing against the publication of it because it has so many details of me and my daughter in it. It has a stay on it until the appeal tomorrow."

Mills originally sought 125 million pounds (about $249.6 million CAD) in the case, while McCartney had offered her 15.8 million pounds (about $31.5 million CAD). Even though she said she was happy with the settlement, Mills says she takes issue with how much Beatrice will receive each year.

"Paul has always wanted Beatrice to go to a state school," Mills says. "He insisted that she he wanted us to move to [East Sussex] — 35,000 pounds includes 17,000 pounds for school fees. He tried to get our daughter with joint residency, even though we had gone 50-50. In that way he has gotten everything he wanted, but that's what powerful people get."

Mills also says she disagrees with the judge's decision that McCartney is worth about 400 million pounds (about $800. million CAD). "Everyone knows that he has been worth 800 million pounds [about $1.6 billion CAD] for the last 15 years," Mills says. "Paul has always wanted it public because he wants to look like generous Sir Paul."

Mills and McCartney met in 1999 and were married in Ireland in 2002. Beatrice was born in 2003. The couple separated in 2006, when McCartney announced he was filing for divorce.