My brother borrowed £10,000 from my aunt to buy a car. When he split up with his wife he paid my aunt the money back, but the wife wanted a share and my aunt had to go to court. She refused to be represented by a solicitor and lost the case, ending up having to pay the wife’s legal costs. How can that be right? It wasn’t her divorce!
Your aunt became a party to the divorce proceedings, and needed legal assistance to put over her case. She obviously wasn’t able to convince the court that the money wasn’t a gift to your brother, and so the £10,000 became part of the family assets available for division between your brother and his wife. Unfortunately your brother’s story just goes to show the importance of documentation when making a loan, even to family members.