Legal News

The daughter of one of the UK’s richest men has warned that a judge’s ruling in her divorce case should act as a disincentive for wealthy women to marry.

Victoria Luckwell, 37, is the daughter of the man who headed up the media company which invented children’s cartoon Bob the Builder.

She married film editor Frankie Limata in 2005, after Mr Limata had signed a pre-nuptial agreement and two supplementary agreements – and promised never to seek any of his wife’s family fortune.

In a divorce which has cost an estimated £600,000 in legal costs, Mr Limata was awarded £1.24 million by a family court, including £900,000 for a home until the couple’s youngest child reaches the age of 22. The couple have three young sons and Mr Justice Holman told a hearing at the High Court that it was in the children’s best interests that their father was provided for.

Mr Limata had demanded a £2.2m share of the marital home, the Daily Mail reports.

The court took into account that Ms Luckwell’s only asset was a house worth £6.6 million in Connaught Square, London, which her father had given to her. Ms Luckwell’s father – named as seventeenth richest man on the Sunday Times Rich List – had threatened to cut off his daughter financially if his former employee and son-in-law Mr Limata claimed any of her wealth.

Ms Luckwell will continue to own half of the home Mr Limata will live in until youngest son – who is currently aged two – reaches the age of 22.

Mr Limata claims when he and his wife separated, he was left homeless and living out of bin bags. He now works for the minimum wage at his family’s bed and breakfast guest house in Notting Hill. He claims he contributed to the family income during his marriage, which Ms Luckwell disputes.

Mr Limata claims his father-in-law’s decision to cut off his daughter financially is “motivated by spite” and “a determination to control every aspect of her life”. He claims his motivation in contesting the divorce settlement was to secure sufficient funds to meet his “real financial needs”.

Ms Luckwell says that she will now have to raise her three sons as a single mother without financial support. Her father has been paying her an annual allowance of £100,000 and paying her sons’ school fees. Ms Luckwell claims her father – who is worth an estimated £135m – has decided to stick to his pledge not to support her and she will have to sell her home.

“Sadly I am left o conclude there is a strong financial disincentive for a wealthy woman to marry if she cannot be assured of protecting her family’s assets.

“Simply put, this is a gold-digger’s charter,” Ms Luckwell said after the hearing.

“Unless Parliament enacts the recent Law Commission’s proposals on nuptial agreements, the law will remain in a state of uncertainty,” she added.

The Law Commission has recommended that qualifying nuptial agreements should be enforceable in its recently published report Matrimonial Property Needs and Agreements.

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For expert help with family and childcare law – including divorce law and child contact and residence – contact Duncan Lewis family solicitors on 020 7923 4020.