In what appears to be a landmark decision, people who discover that their former husband or wife had lied to them regarding the value of their wealth during the divorce procedures will now have the opportunity to reopen their settlements.
This landmark ruling follows the appeal of two women, Alison Sharland (48), and Varsha Gohil (50), who argued that their divorce cases should be reopened as their former husbands had not fully disclosed the value of their assets. Seven Supreme Court justices unanimously ruled in favour of the women, who will go back to the courts to rehear their divorce claims.
In her 2004 divorce settlement, Varsha Gohil had received £270,000 and a Peugeot car from her husband, who had claimed he was of modest means. Six years after her divorce to former solicitor, Bhadresh Gohil, he was convicted of money-laundering and currently serves a ten-year sentence. It is said that he had helped a Nigerian politician to steal allegedly £50 million.
Varsha Gohil had argued that there had been material which were not disclosed during the time of her divorce settlement.
Regarding the judgement, Gohil said, “There are absolutely no winners in divorce and more than a thought has to be given to the children of families locked in this type of litigation. The price they pay is a very heavy one. The emotional strain of it is huge on everyone, the drain in financial resources is enormous and none of it serves the family.”
She continued, “The court process is unfortunately geared towards those with financial means and I consider myself fortunate that to have been able to conduct most of my case on my own. All spouses subject to deceit and deliberate financial skulduggery in a divorce owe a huge debt of gratitude to the tireless efforts of the legal team...”.
In 2014, a British jeweller, Dharmesh Dwarkada Bhura, who moved to Georgia, USA, was said to be a “dishonest litigant” who “spirited away a large amount of valuable jewellery with the intention of defeating the wife's claim for a financial remedy”.
A leading family lawyer, Marilyn Stowe said, “In the past some spouses might have thought it was all right to get away with non-disclosure just because it's the family court and it is a dispute just involving their other half.”
