Sir Paul McCartney may be in the final stages of a plan to marry Nancy Shevell, with the American heiress said to be finalising her divorce from husband Bruce Blakeman.

According to reports, the conclusion of the divorce would leave the way open for forty-seven-year-old Shevell and McCartney to wed, and the former Beatle is expected to announce his engagement once the separation is complete.

The sixty-six-year-old McCartney, who is said to be house hunting on Manhattan's Upper East Side where Shevell has a home, could be moving a step closer to marriage, the Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday. The American heiress is said to be finalising her divorce from husband Bruce Blakeman.

According to the British daily, Shevell, an old family fiend, was first spotted with McCartney in November, when they shared a string of secret dates in the Hamptons. It said the former Beatle's children have given their seal of approval to the relationship.

Shevell would be wife number three for the former Beatle, whose own acrimonious divorce from Heather Mills was settled in March. The former Beatle can be secure in the knowledge that Shevell is not after his fortune -- she is vice-president of her family's transport firm, a conglomerate worth 250 million pounds, the report said.