Divorce can be a very expensive process. But how about making a settlement of over €2.5 billion?
Yes that's billion and is exactly what AS Monaco's Russian owner Dimitry Rybolovlev had to settle for after splitting from his wife.
Has that had an impact on the French club during a strange summer? Financial Fair Play is an issue for the club certainly, but the principality side did sell two big names in James Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao (the latter on loan) for sizeable fees without replacing them in kind.
They have also made a poor start to a new season which sees them return to the Champions League, ten years after finishing as runners up to Jose Mourinho's Porto.
Paul Doyle of The Guardian spoke to us tonight about just what is going on at Monaco.
He spoke to the club's second-in-command Vadim Vasilyev, who told Doyle why spending has been scaled back.
"Firstly, he said there is the effect of Financial Fair Play. The fine dished out to Manchester City and PSG this year suggested that there was less wriggle room than they thought. So they decided it was about time to start trimming their expenditure. Secondly the [tax] dispute with the French league which was ultimately resolved with Monaco having to pay €50 million over two years was an unforeseen expense. In fairness to them, even last summer when they were splashing out on Falcao and Rodriguez, they did say at that time that it was a one-off splurge to bring them to Champions League qualification level," said Doyle of a club who were only promoted back to Ligue 1 in May 2013.
But there may be other factors, namely that "most expensive divorce settlement in history" - even if it transpires that Rybolovlev may not have to pay the full amount.
"It is likely to have focused his mind on his priorities," said Doyle.
But is there another reason of a more political nature?
"Then there is something that L'Equipe published and they say that what originally attracted [Rybolovlev] to Monaco was the prospect of getting a Monaco passport and he thought that by investing heavily in the country, that might smooth that process. And the advantage of having a Monaco passport, should you ever require it, is that you can't be extradited to Russia. He hasn't been given a Monaco passport yet. The club say that has nothing to do with it."
And the strange effect of Monaco's potential fall from a pedestal has actually been met with dismay in France where most fans had previously been critical of the club splashing the cash.
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