Businesswoman must share 1.7m with jobless ex-lover

An unemployed ex-girlfriend of a wealthy business woman received half of the £1.7m home she lived in with her, now ex-partner after arguing that she played the role of a "housewife" during their time together.  

 

Shree Ladwa, 43 received hundreds of thousands in cash and was given expensive jewellery during her 16-year relationship with Beverly Chapman, 46.  Ms Chapman had paid off the mortgage on the property as well as buying her ex-girlfriend an Aston Martin for her birthday and proposing with a diamond ring in Monte Carlo.  

 

During the court case over their £1.7 million home near Chingford, Essex, Ms Chapman accused Ms Ladwa of never doing a "proper days work". Ms Ladwa meanwhile claimed she was entitled to half the property, like any other "housewife" in a traditional divorce battle. 

 

Ms Chapman complained she was used as a "cash cow" by her ex, who had pressured her to put the property into joint names and argued that Ms Ladwa should get nothing. 

 

Judge Stephen Murch rejected Ms Chapman's claim that she transferred the house into jint names because of Ms Ladwa's "undue influence" and in his ruling he found that it was their "common intention" to buy the house and that it would be jointly owned. 

 

"I cannot accept that Ms Ladwa was the kind of person who could make her act against her will," he said. He added: "Unfortunately, I was left with the impression that Ms Chapman has convinced herself that her version of events is to be preferred, regretting what she now perceives to have been undue generosity when she was in a relationship with Ms Ladwa."

 

The couple began dating in 2000 and lived together soon after the relationship started. Ms Ladwa was a law student, her degree did not lead to a permanent job, Ms Ladwa's only income was £25,000 a year from her mother. Ms Chapman on the other hand worked for her family's successful building business. 

 

Comparing the case with a divorce battle, Judge Murch said Ms Ladwa was "effectively the housewife". He said the house had been bought largely with money from their joint bank account, including the proceeds of the sale of their previous home.

 

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The Johnson Partnership

Solicitors

Nottingham