Indian-Origin Woman in ‘Divorce’ Battle with Girlfriend Wants Half of Former UK Home

A 43-year-old woman of Indian origin who had been living with her British girlfriend is now claiming a share of their former home for being the “housewife” in the relationship. The couple split in 2016 and are fighting over shares of their former home, which is located near Chingford.

Shree Ladwa, a law graduate, was unemployed and had never worked for the 16 and a half years of her relationship with her girlfriend Beverly Chapman. The latter, who owns a real estate business, had paid for the mortgage of the £1.3m house.

Chapman, 45, also claimed that she was treated like a “cash cow” by Ladwa and that she transferred the house into their joint names in 2008 due to Ladwa’s nagging. The house had earlier been bought by Chapman solely on her name.

Chapman also claimed that she worked to fund their lavish lifestyle and gave Ladwa a diamond engagement ring during their trip to Monaco.

Ladwa said that she cooked and cleaned for Chapman like a traditional “housewife” and thus deserves half of the property like in a traditional “divorce” battle. She said that they intended to own equal shares of the house.

However, Chapman was quoted as saying by Daily Mail, “She started to put pressure on, saying we can transfer the house over.”

“I would probably best describe the way she behaved over the next few months as a bit like a child who keeps asking for something, like ‘can I have this toy?’, and asks repeatedly or makes repeated references to it, so that you relent. You get to the point where you are really tired out by hearing the same thing, again and again and again,” Chapman told Judge Stephen Murch at Central London County Court.

Chapman’s lawyer, Elizabeth Darlington, told the court that Ladwa received a £25,000-a-year allowance from her mother and never did “a proper day’s work” She lived off Chapman instead. Even with a law degree she had been unable to find work and her attempts at starting a business had also failed.

“The reason you didn’t work is because you didn’t want to, did you?,” Darlington asked Ladwa. “If you really wanted to get a job, you could have got a job in any number of things. The bottom line is you didn’t want to work.”

Ladwa said that she concentrated on getting a training contract after the law degree and despite sending many job applications nothing materialized. She also denied disparaging Chapman down in front of others.

“Bev told me it would be easier to secure the mortgage if it was just in her sole name,” Ladwa told the judge. “It was always going to be our home, our future home. I trusted her.”