Wife forced to swap £3.2m home for council flat after ‘cheap divorce goes wrong’

A DOCTOR’S wife had to swap her £3.2 million home for a rented council flat and a life on benefits after their onthe-cheap divorce went “completely wrong”, the High Court heard.

Anaesthetist Dr Peter Wilson and his wife, London property developer and nurse Norma, had lived in a fivebedroom mansion in Sunningdale.

But after the attempted cheap divorce backfired she was left with nothing and moved into a one-bed council flat in Bracknell, the court was told.

She is suing her former solicitor at Herring ton & Carmichael LLP f or £2 million damages, claiming his “negligence” caused her downfall by failing to protect her interests properly.

Her barrister Brie Stevens-Hoare, QC, said: “Norma came out of her long marriage to Dr Wilson, which generated millions of pounds of matrimonial assets, with nothing. She has been reduced to living in a rented flat surviving on state benefits.”

The couple, who had two children, ended their 17-year marriage in 2006 but opted to develop the home — creating 15 luxury flats — to maximise funds for them both on their divorce.

Miss Wilson claims they were encouraged by Herrington & Carmichael consultant Ken Sutton to save cash through settling their divorce by agreement.

So they decided she would pay Dr Wilson £500,000 for his share of the house to finance the development and another £1 million on completion.

But she says that despite re-financing to pay the £500,000 and receive Dr Wilson’s share, the settlement was not actually approved by a judge when they took it to court. She could not get further finance for the work because lenders turned her down when Dr Wilson registered a matrimonial rights restriction over the property, she claims.

Faced with crippling repayments, she was unable to keep the house and it was sold for only £1.9 million in 2009 — leaving her empty-handed after paying off loans and the mortgage.

Miss Wilson, who kept her married name after divorce, said: “I had to go on income support and apply for accommodation. Hell broke loose upon me. I was in a desperate situation.”

Her husband left the marriage with £630,000 in assets plus the £500,000 his wife gave him for his share of the house. She claims Mr Sutton should have explained what signing the consent order of settlement meant — effectively nothing without court approval.

The Berkshire law firm denies liability. Mr Justice Charles called the terms of the pair’s agreement “a recipe for disaster”. Judgment will be given later.