A Filipina widow loses in a court fight against her stepchildren over her husband’s fortune.
Rosita Hendry, 52, met her husband Michael Hendry, who was 20 years her senior, in the Philippines in 2001 and married two years later, residing together in Surrey.
Their relationship broke down following accusations of alcoholism and adultery which resulted in them divorcing. But during the dissolution of marriage Mr Henry died, aged 70, in 2017.
Mr Henry had already cut Rosita out of his Will and instead bequeathed everything, including his home to two of his children from a previous relationship.
Consequently, following Mr Henry’s passing, Mrs Henry approached her stepchildren to ask for a share of his estate to which she was told she could have £10,000 and a one-way ticket home back to the Philippines.
However, she rejected this offer and more generous ones that followed, still asking for a bigger share of his £220,000 estate.
The legal fight over the estate resulted in Mrs Henry receiving nothing after the stepchildren won the court battle.
When Mr Henry met Rosita in the Philippines, London’s High Court heard how he already had dependents, Michael Jnr, 21, Dorothy, 30, and Melanie living in the US.
The couple lived in Mr Hendry’s home on Hampton Court Parade in East Molesey with Michael Jnr and were regular drinkers at their local pub.
Following the couple’s nuptials, a pre-nuptial agreement had been signed which confirmed that Mrs Hendry would only get a flight home and £10,000 if they were to divorce.
Even though Rosita agreed to the pre-nup at the time, when Mr Henry died, the offer of a ticket back to Philippines and £10,000, presented to her by Michael Jnr and Dorothy, was rejected.
Judge Karen Shuman told the court that Mrs Hendry claimed they split up because Mr Hendry started drinking heavily and became violent towards her, which forced her to leave the property and move in with her friend.
But Dorothy insisted this was a lie and the real truth was that Mrs Henry had an affair and when her father found out it drove him to drink.
In November 2016, Mrs Hendry petitioned for divorce, in her quest to get a 50/50 split of all her husband’s assets.
Unfortunately, the divorce did not happen because Mr Hendry died the following February.
Despite the pre-nup, Rosita insisted she should get half of the estate.
After she was widowed, she was only receiving £63 a month from her husband’s pension but still rejected a later offer from the stepchildren to divide the assets three ways.
Mrs Hendry lodged a claim for ‘reasonable financial provision’ from her husband’s estate in April 2018 but Judge Shuman rejected the claim because it was made too late. The Judge added that Mrs Hendry knew there was a time limit and chose to ignore it.
The judge’s final decision meant the estate will be equally shared between Michael Jnr and Dorothy.
