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Amir MoavenChampion News Service<\/p>\nA Brazilian woman is battling with her brother-in-law over claims she was unfairly cut out of inheriting her deceased husband\u2019s \u00a35 million estate.<\/p>\n
Gabriela Teixeira, who describes herself as a \u201cbirth doula\u201d, 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\u2019s most desirable neighbourhoods, including Holland Park and Kensington.<\/p>\n
But after Moaven died of cancer ten years later, aged 45, his widow discovered that his estate \u2014 which she anticipated sharing with her children \u2014 could be worth nothing.<\/p>\n
Amir MoavenChampion News Service<\/p>\n
Teixeira has told a High Court judge that weeks before her husband\u2019s death, Moaven signed documents declaring that four properties, which at the time were valued at more than \u00a33 million, were not entirely his.<\/p>\n
Ownership was instead shared with Moaven\u2019s mother, Nazemi Tehran, and brother, Amir, in an arrangement that \u201csubstantially\u201d diminished the value of the estate that she would inherit. It could even be left worthless because of debts.<\/p>\n
Teixeira, 41, and her children, Elis and Aryan, have gone to court in an attempt to restore the properties to her husband\u2019s estate and allow the three to inherit the full value.<\/p>\n
Teixeira promotes herself as a birth doula. The term originates from Greek, where it translates as either \u201cfemale servant\u201d or in some instances \u201cslave\u201d, and involves providing care and support during pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the court battle with her brother-in-law, Teixeira has claimed that the documents her husband signed were a \u201csham\u201d. She has cited notes taken by Moaven\u2019s 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\u2019s death.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The lawyer\u2019s notes are said to have shown that her brother-in-law questioned how she could be prevented from leaving the UK with the children.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alexander Learmonth KC, representing Teixeira, argued that the lawyers\u2019 notes confirmed that the documents were a \u201csham\u201d and \u201centered into with the clear aim of defeating a claim by Gabriela and\/or her children against the estate\u201d.<\/p>\n
Learmonth added that the entirety of the properties should fall into the deceased man\u2019s estate, which would leave his widow and children up to \u00a35 million after debts were cleared.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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A mansion in Holland Park is among the four properties involved in the disputeChampion News Service<\/p>\n
But the brother-in-law has countered that the declarations of trust were legitimate and put into writing what had always been the case \u2014 that the properties were owned in equal shares by the brothers and their mother.<\/p>\n
He said that Teixeira\u2019s claims amounted to accusing her late husband of lying about not being the sole owner of the properties in an attempt to \u201cdefraud and\/or control her\u201d from beyond the grave.<\/p>\n