A Brazilian woman is battling with her brother-in-law over claims she was unfairly cut out of inheriting her deceased husband’s £5 million estate.
Gabriela Teixeira, who describes herself as a “birth doula”, married Abbas Moaven, a wealthy property investor and restaurateur, in 2002 after meeting him at one of his restaurants in Notting Hill. The couple had two children and lived in several of London’s most desirable neighbourhoods, including Holland Park and Kensington.
But after Moaven died of cancer ten years later, aged 45, his widow discovered that his estate — which she anticipated sharing with her children — could be worth nothing.
Amir MoavenChampion News Service
Teixeira has told a High Court judge that weeks before her husband’s death, Moaven signed documents declaring that four properties, which at the time were valued at more than £3 million, were not entirely his.
Ownership was instead shared with Moaven’s mother, Nazemi Tehran, and brother, Amir, in an arrangement that “substantially” diminished the value of the estate that she would inherit. It could even be left worthless because of debts.
Teixeira, 41, and her children, Elis and Aryan, have gone to court in an attempt to restore the properties to her husband’s estate and allow the three to inherit the full value.
Teixeira promotes herself as a birth doula. The term originates from Greek, where it translates as either “female servant” or in some instances “slave”, and involves providing care and support during pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period.
In the court battle with her brother-in-law, Teixeira has claimed that the documents her husband signed were a “sham”. She has cited notes taken by Moaven’s lawyer after a meeting with his brother, which she claims had expressed concern that she might leave the UK with the children after her husband’s death.
The lawyer’s notes are said to have shown that her brother-in-law questioned how she could be prevented from leaving the UK with the children.
Alexander Learmonth KC, representing Teixeira, argued that the lawyers’ notes confirmed that the documents were a “sham” and “entered into with the clear aim of defeating a claim by Gabriela and/or her children against the estate”.
Learmonth added that the entirety of the properties should fall into the deceased man’s estate, which would leave his widow and children up to £5 million after debts were cleared.
A mansion in Holland Park is among the four properties involved in the disputeChampion News Service
But the brother-in-law has countered that the declarations of trust were legitimate and put into writing what had always been the case — that the properties were owned in equal shares by the brothers and their mother.
He said that Teixeira’s claims amounted to accusing her late husband of lying about not being the sole owner of the properties in an attempt to “defraud and/or control her” from beyond the grave.
The two brothers came to the UK from Iran in 1982 to live with their father and together opened a clothing shop in west London called Homeboy before moving into the mobile phone market and ultimately into restaurants. They also invested in a number of properties in the capital.
Teixeira met her husband at The Gate, his restaurant in Notting Hill. Giving evidence, she told the judge, Timothy Bowles, that her husband had never given any indication that the flat was not entirely his property.
But the barrister appearing for her brother-in-law, Lydia Pemberton, described the court case as a “very bitter family dispute”. She went on to tell the judge that the documents were “the written manifestation of the longstanding agreement” that the properties were held by the brothers and their mother — who died three years ago — in equal shares.
Bowles reserved his decision after a week-long hearing until a later date.