A Fairy Tale…
Once upon a time there was an English married couple who dreamed about living in Spain.
They planned it and worked toward it for 12 years.
Even when the wife became seriously ill they kept their dream alive. The husband took care of the wife, the children, the house, worked, studied at the university and sold everything they had in the UK to make their dream come true.
In year 2000 they finally bought a country house in the Andalusian Mountain overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. And they moved to Spain in the spring of 2001.
Their dream came true!
Did they live happily ever after?
Not really!
Less than 6 months later the wife decides, that moving to Spain was the biggest mistake of her life. She leaves her devastated husband and moves back to the UK.
The husband pays all her removal expenses, lets her take what she wants and he even sends her all their savings: € 90.000 so she can get a roof over her head.
Not really a smart move, legally or otherwise, by the husband who had a serious back injury and was not supposed to work as a Farrier anymore – because he was now left with no money and had to start working in Spain.
The wife buys a place in the UK which she sells on for a profit.
Well – is that it then?
Not by a long run!
On the 16th of December this year the husband is about to be made homeless and penniless with the blessing of the courts – in England & Spain! His house in Spain is being put an a public auction….let’s rephrase that; According to the latest letter from his wife’s lawyer His half of the house is being sold on a public auction. According to the lawyer his wife still owns the other half.
His crime? As far as he knows he hasn’t committed one.
He just could not afford a lawyer that could deal with a cross-border-divorce-settlement…
Edward Kirwan had a serious work accident in Spain and according to the doctors he will never work again as a Farrier. This is three years ago – he still hasn’t seen a penny from Spanish Social Security which he has paid € 240 into every month as long as he worked. The insurance refuse to pay…there’s a surprise!
And he still cannot afford a lawyer who is able to deal with the technicalities of wrong-doings of the court across the borders – like the judge in Hastings who based his decision on a valuation written in Spanish. (The judge didn’t speak Spanish). The valuation was obtained by his wife and it painted a false picture of a potential building plot for holiday homes or hotels, (The fact is it is illegal to build on the land).
Yes, according to the European Union everybody that cannot afford a lawyer is entitled to free legal help….but not free legal aid in your mother tongue. This means you will have to pay an interpreter every time you consult with the lawyer.
The story is about Edward Kirwan, a British citizen residing in Spain (Andalusia) but it could apply to you.
If nothing is done, he will be homeless on the 16th of December this year while his ex-wife has apparently recovered well from her brain haemorrhage. She has been running her own pub in Uffculme, Devon (since closed and awaiting re-development) and if successful in her aims, will have had all their savings (€ 90.000 cash) & the whole Spanish estate….and who knows whether she on top of that still receives the social benefits from her previous illness?
I hope that you can help Ed to undo the injustice that has been done. Ed is down to his last penny and he doesn’t know where the next one is coming from. In spite of this and his very bad knees and back he is considering walking from Spain to the UK. This walk against injustice is not just for him but also for the many other expats who are being crushed between the borders.
Not much of a fairytale – admitted…..a bit more like a nightmare.
Dorte Holm Jensen
Ed’s fiancé
Freelance Journalist
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This story is very common, there is nothing unique about it and the fact that the person who wrote this letter is the fiancee of the guy in question to me also raises a bit of a question. Did the fiancee have anything to do with the departure of his wife? I not insunuating this happened but i am just thinking out of the box since i am a student lawyer and we deal with situations like these in our practicals
Again i shall say this story is very biased and one sided i.e there is only one side of the story therefore the other side of the story has to be heard before we can judge who is right or wrong. It does sound fishy to me that a wife can just say i am sick and tired of spain and just leave to go back to England, yes in some cases that happens but a 3rd person is needed int he puzzle for a breakup of this sort to happen in most cases we deal with 4/5 times this is the case.
Again why did the husband give the wife money. Yes you could say the man was doing it out of goodwill but divorces do not work like that at all, this was asking for problem to start with. Again everything to see seems to point to something, there are a lot of question marks.
As British people we also have to realise that even though we are british citizens it does not mean that our democracy is generic to the whole world. There have been british people who have been killed, arrested, tortured abroad and this case is not unique. If the spanish want to sell it he house they will sell it simply because the law does not protect british citizens who go outside and Mr Edward needs to cut his loses get whatever cash he can get his hands on and move on. I would like to work on a case like this but i do not think the outcome is changeable.
Thank you for your comments Mary.
I would like to clarify one or two points.
I know this case is not unique. The blog is written for my own sake and by me and is therefore by nature naturally biased although I try to keep it as factually based as possible.
I, Edward, am the sole writer on this blog with the exception that my fiancée who wrote the introduction “Injustice in Europe…A Fairy Tale…”
I, foolishly as it turned out, sent all our savings to my ex-wife as I knew how volatile, emotionally unstable and vulnerable she was following her brain hemorrhage some years earlier. The gulf between love, care, emotion and the law is vast.
My ex-wife of 16 years and I were in a marriage where we equally shared everything. She deserted me and left our new home (2 houses and land) in Spain penniless stating that the move to Spain was “the worst mistake of my life”. That is why I sent her our life savings n order that she would not be homeless. Please note: her leaving Spain was not a revolt against me personally it was against the move to Spain.
I spent nearly 4 years alone before engaging in my present relationship which happily, has resulted in our engagement to be married. There never was a case of “The other woman”
While the machinery of law rolls along in a language and system that I do not understand at least I can have my say.
Thanks again. Keep the comments coming
Look Edward for a people to separate there are driving forces behind it, its interesting that you mentioned she had a brain Hemorrhage i will come to that later.
From what i am reading from you there are what i gathered 3 possibilities of your break-up
1. Spain – she didnt like the place and she wanted to leave but i wouldnt see why that would break up your marriage if there is love there can be compromise in this case i am guessing you didnt want to compromise
2. Her Illness – Some famous person said that when you have problems thats when you really know each other and from what i can read from this the illness left her with a sour taste in her mouth. Problems are either supposed to make or break relationships and the fact that it broke the relationship this means maybe she felt that she wasnt cared for well during her illness. People when they get very sick sometimes the thing they think about the most is going back ”home” which is basically a place where there is a group of family members. I am guessing you 2 were having arguments which means she needed to get away.
3. As a man its hard to live for a longtime caring for an ill person without your feelings are cared for as well and this is the 3rd reason that there is a 3rd person involved. I have to say its even more suspicious the way you brushed it off and said there was never the case of ”the other woman”. You did not exactly come out and say there was nothing happening.
Another thing that comes to my mind is Kids? are there kids involved in this ”messy” divorce?? Who took the kids after the divorce?? If its her then my friend you really have your back against the wall. She has looked after those kids all that time and you are also liable to paying her child-support and yes you thought right the money you gave her does not count as that.
Take it from me i have done law, i studied law and the only way this is going to end is of you even losing more than what you even imagined. so let me list things that might be used against you and i will conclude with my advice
1. The money you gave her is off the record, and she feels she was entittled to it since you all worked at it. A divorce will lose you more.
2. If there are kids the law will always favor the person who goes away with the kids, you might be even ordered to pay child support for the years before they turned 18-21 or when they were in the guardianship of their mother.
3. The law is not on you side, because this is spain this is not very good for you because European laws do not usually favour especially British citizens. The spanish feel like british people are invading spain making their properties expenses just like the British feel with People from he EU as such the law is heavily on the Spanish.
My advice is take whatever you can and buy a smaller property or whatever you can, in my line of work there are millions of lawyers itching to jup on a case like this because these cases are the ones we call the easy ones because unless you spend about £10 000- £20-000 on an advocate you have lost before you even go in so stay away.
The name is Marv, short for Marvin by the way, dont hesitate to ask any questions.
Hi Marv,
I hope you have kept up with this blog…what does one do with lawyers who act illegally?
Ed