Ex-wife seeks more divorce money

The couple divorced in 1999, dividing assets valued at £3.2m

A woman who received £1.27m in a 1999 divorce settlement is seeking more money from her ex-husband.

Christine Burns has asked the Appeal Court for a share of the profit her ex-husband John made when he sold the matrimonial home for £1.7m.

Mrs Burns had accepted the settlement on the understanding he would keep the house for himself and their two daughters, the court heard.

However, within months he had sold it at twice the estimate of £850,000.

Mrs Burns' lawyer, Lewis Marks QC, told the three Appeal Court judges that the house, Awbridge Danes, in Awbridge, Romsey, Hampshire, had been "grossly undervalued".

The figure was used when the judge approved the initial divorce settlement, giving Mrs Burns 39% of the total marriage assets estimated at the time as £3.2 million.

House marketing

Mr Marks said Mrs Burns had agreed to transfer the house into her husband's name after he told her he would be staying there for one year to 18 months.

She saw an advert in Country Life magazine offering the house for sale at £1.25m in 1999, but did not find out the actual selling price until December last year, Mr Marks said.

Mr Marks said Mr Burns had a duty to disclose that his intention of marketing the house at a price much higher than the valuation.

"Mr Burns knew that the court had not exercised its discretion (on awarding the settlement) on the basis of correct information.

"It had worked on the basis that the equity was £750,000 - not £1.6 million."

Late appeal

He said that if the court had known that the family assets were £4.2 million, the final order would have been different.

Mr Burns says the case would not stand as it was four-and-a-half years too late to comply with legal time limits on appeals.

Mr Burns, 55, married his former wife, who is aged 53, in 1974 and they have two children, Charlotte 26, and Melissa, 23.

They had recently moved into the derelict Awbridge Danes in 1995 when she petitioned for divorce that year.

Mr Burns, a property developer, spent £100,000 renovating the house while they lived at the Dower House, a cottage on the same 96-acre estate.

The former couple sat in court as Lords Justices Thorpe, Clarke and Waller heard the case on Wednesday.

The hearing continues.