Man who took sister-in-law to court over his brother’s £5m fortune lands huge bill after losing battle

A London court has ordered a man to pay substantial legal costs after losing a dispute over his late brother’s multimillion-pound estate.

The case centred on the estate of the late property investor and restaurateur Abbas Moaven, whose widow, Gabriela Teixeira, successfully challenged documents that reduced the value of the inheritance available to her and the couple’s two children.

Teixeira, a yoga teacher and doula, married Moaven in 2002. Following his death after a battle with cancer, she discovered that his estate had been significantly reduced by declarations of trust signed shortly before his death. The documents stated that four London properties, previously believed to be solely owned by Moaven, were instead jointly owned by him, his brother Amir Moaven and their mother.

Teixeira brought legal proceedings against her brother-in-law, arguing that the declarations of trust were a sham designed to prevent her and her children from inheriting the bulk of her husband’s wealth. The court agreed, with Deputy Master Timothy Bowles ruling that the documents were not genuine and describing the explanation behind their creation as a “fiction.”

The judge found that the declarations were intended to deny Moaven’s widow access to much of his estate. Following that ruling, the court has now ordered Amir Moaven to pay approximately £490,000 in legal costs, alongside an accountant and a conveyancing solicitor whom the judge found had been involved in preparing the disputed documents.

Pending a detailed assessment of the final costs, the court ordered the defendants to make interim payments of £154,800 towards the legal costs incurred by Teixeira and her children, £318,800 towards the costs of the administrators of the estate, and a further £17,000, which Amir Moaven must pay personally.

During the proceedings, Teixeira told the court that her husband had never suggested the properties were jointly owned. Her legal team argued that internal legal notes showed the trust arrangements were created with the intention of preventing claims against the estate by her and the couple’s children. Amir Moaven maintained that the declarations accurately reflected longstanding ownership arrangements between himself, his brother and their mother.

However, the judge rejected that argument, finding that Amir had advanced “an entirely fictional and dishonest case” in support of the disputed trust documents. The ruling restores the disputed properties to Abbas Moaven’s estate, significantly increasing the assets available for distribution to his beneficiaries.