When Peter Andre and Katie Price went their separate ways probably the last thing on their mind was tax.

But at some point when they sit down and draw up a divorce settlement, tax will need to be uppermost in their and their advisers' thoughts.

And it is no different for anyone else breaking up, Simon Littlejohns, tax partner in the Birmingham office of accountants and business advisers PKF, has warned.

He said: "Tax will have an important part to play in any divorce arrangements and particularly if assets have to be sold to provide for any settlement amounts.

"Such sales are bound to generate tax liabilities."

This, said Mr Littlejohns, means that assets have to be looked at in their totality and decisions on what to sell should be made with the aim of minimising capital gains tax and any other taxes for that matter.

For example, he pointed out that where shares in a family company were involved, ten per cent tax would be paid on the first £1 million of gain instead of the standard 18 per cent rate. So this may be a preferred asset to sell, but it is a stake in the family company and that may be the last thing to be sold with the family silver and so forth to be sold first.

"Of course when a couple are breaking up, the tax implications are possibly the last things on their mind, but at some point it has to be considered.

"My advice would be to draw up an order of priorities if assets have to be sold.

"And, of course, if you are a celebrity with houses around the world, Peter and Katie being a good example, then other tax jurisdictions come into it and it gets much more complicated.

"But, as they say, death and taxes wait for no man, be it celebrities or the man and woman in the street."