The case involves Ms Roocraft who was in a civil partnership with her partner Ms Aincow who died in 2013 and appeared to have a number of hidden business assets worth millions of pounds. She had been in an 18 year relationship with her wealthy property partner until they separated in 2009.
During proceedings Ms Aincow had submitted to court that her wealth had been significantly hit because of the economic recession. This led to Ms Roocraft accepting a £162,000 settlement sum from Ms Aincow in 2010.
However later discoveries of hidden assets after Ms Aincow’s death had led to Ms Roocraft feeling her settlement was unjust. Ms Roocraft has now instructed Irwin Mitchell to overturn the original settlement agreement.
In 2014 the court dismissed her application at a hearing on the 11th July 2014. Ms Roocroft gained permission to appeal the July 2014 decision before Lady Justice Black on 30th January 2015. Family lawyer Rob Bever, from Irwin Mitchell who has also represented two women of similar cases to Ms Roocraft successfully won the Gohil and Sharland cases, and has said: “there were massive similarities between the cases, as all the women believed they were duped into accepting ‘unfair’ divorce/dissolution settlements based on knowingly false information provided by their ex partners.” He also goes on to say: “’Last year’s judgment in the Supreme Court cases of Sharland and Gohil sent out a clear message that dishonesty will not be tolerated, and this should be no different for civil partnerships”.
Ms Roocraft’s hearing began on 5th July 2015 at the Royal Courts of Justice.
