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LONDON - Paul McCartney and Heather Mills returned to court on Monday in an attempt to agree on terms for their divorce.

The fight over the wealth of the former Beatle, who is estimated to have as much as $1.6 billion, could produce Britain’s largest ever divorce settlement.

Mills was the first to arrive at the court for the hearing.

The hearing before Justice Hugh Bennett will proceed behind closed doors, and the terms of any settlement would not become public record unless it moved to the Court of Appeal, or either of the parties chooses to reveal details.

“Current estimates suggest that Heather is likely to receive anything from 50 million to 100 million pounds ($100-200 million) as her final settlement,” said Suzanne Kingston, a family law expert.

“The fact that this has been a short marriage will be taken into account and this could involve looking at the wealth that has been generated during the course of the marriage as distinct from premarital wealth,” Kingston added.

Mills intends to represent herself. She fired her lawyers in November after a series of interviews in which she accused McCartney of failing to protect her and their child from abuse, which she says ranges from lies and slander to death threats.

“We’ve had death threats, I’ve been close to suicide. I’m so upset about this,” she said in one of her November interviews. “I’ve had worse press than a pedophile or a murderer, and I’ve done nothing but charity for 20 years.”

“I am the one that is abused daily,” she added.

“I have protected Paul for this long and I am trying to protect him but I am being pushed to the edge and I don’t want my daughter when she is 12 going on the Internet and reading this totally one-sided story.”

Mills’ left leg was amputated below the knee after a motorcycle accident in 1993, and she became active in campaigning against land mines, as patron of Adopt-A-Minefield.

The couple married in June 2002, and their daughter, Beatrice, was born in October the following year. They announced their separation in 2006.