Wife wins £6.6m after 23-Year Divorce Battle with Ex-Husband

A woman has won a 23-year divorce battle after successfully arguing that her ex-husband hid his £28 million fortune from her.

Varsha Gohil was awarded £6.6 million after years of legal disputes over the true extent of her former husband’s wealth.

The case began when she filed for divorce from Bhadresh Gohil in May 2002, citing adultery and unreasonable behaviour.

At the time of their separation, Varsha accepted a financial settlement of £270,000 and the family Peugeot. However, she later became convinced that Bhadresh had failed to fully disclose his assets and income during the divorce proceedings.

Under family law, both parties are legally required to provide full and frank disclosure of their finances when negotiating a divorce settlement.

Believing that crucial information had been withheld, Varsha gathered evidence and applied in 2007 to have the original agreement overturned.

The case took a dramatic turn when Bhadresh was convicted of money laundering and forgery in 2011. The former solicitor was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Following his conviction, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) froze assets worth £28 million that investigators said had been hidden across multiple jurisdictions around the world.

The dispute over those assets sparked years of further litigation. Both sides launched appeals as courts considered whether Varsha’s original settlement should be revisited in light of the new evidence.

The long-running legal battle eventually reached the Supreme Court. Bhadresh’s case was heard alongside that of fellow divorcee Alison Sharland, who had also claimed her former husband concealed the true scale of his wealth during their divorce.

Both women were successful in their challenges.

Varsha secured the right to a fresh hearing to determine what financial provision she should receive from the marriage.

However, progress remained slow. Difficulties faced by the CPS in recovering Bhadresh’s assets meant that the High Court hearing did not take place until 2023.

At that hearing, the former couple clashed over ownership of the £28 million fortune.

Bhadresh argued that the assets were not his and therefore could not form part of any financial award to his ex-wife.

Varsha maintained that the wealth belonged to her husband during their marriage and should be considered when assessing a fair settlement.

The CPS took a different position, arguing that Bhadresh had accumulated the fortune through criminal activity.

As a result, the assets should be subject to criminal recovery proceedings rather than transferred to Varsha.

Mr Justice Williams ultimately rejected key parts of that argument, concluding that the assets had belonged to Bhadresh and found that the CPS had not proven that the entire £28 million represented the proceeds of crime.

The judge noted that some of the assets originated from legitimate businesses operated during the marriage. On that basis, he awarded Varsha £6.6 million in assets.

In his ruling, Judge Williams was highly critical of Bhadresh’s conduct throughout the proceedings.

He described him as “pervasively dishonest” and that “his account of being a hard-working, family-orientated and impecunious man who has been ill-used by others and subject to a terrible injustice by the state and by the wife is so very far from the truth that it is hard to comprehend how he can put it forward”.