Judge blasts 'sexist laws' that left woman destitute after split from partner: She lost her home when 30-year relationship ended

Pamela Curran had been with partner Brian Collins, 52, since late 1970s

But relationship ended in 2010 and county court judge left her penniless



Appeal judge says she's a victim of unfair and old-fashioned property law

Couple lived and worked together at Kent kennels and cattery business



A woman who lost her home and business when she split from her partner of more than three decades is a victim of sexist property laws, a top judge said yesterday.

Pamela Curran, 55, had worked with Brian Collins, 52, at his kennels and cattery.

But after their relationship ended in 2010, a county court judge ruled that she had no right to a share in the business, or the home where they had lived together.

Pamela Curran, 55, was left penniless when her 30 year relationship with Brian Collins, 52, ended but has been given the right to appeal a ruling that said she had no right to share the business or the home where they lived



Miss Curran was left penniless, with her belongings placed in storage while she stayed with any friends who could take her in.

But she is now able to appeal the ruling after judge Lord Justice Toulson said she is a victim of unfair and old-fashioned property laws that are biased against women of her age and position.

‘Sadly, the appellant found herself in the classic position of a woman jilted in her early fifties, having very much made her life with the respondent for over 30 years. The law of property can be harsh on people, usually women, in that situation,’ he said.

‘Bluntly, the law remains unfair to people in the appellant’s position, but the judge was constrained to apply the law as it is.’ The Court of Appeal heard that the couple began their relationship as teenagers in the Seventies, and remained ‘an item’ until their split three years ago.

They lived and worked together at Haven Boarding Kennels and Cattery near Ashford, Kent, which was bought in Mr Collins’s name in 2007.

Workplace: The couple lived and worked together at The Haven, a kennels and cattery business near Ashford, Kent which was bought in 52-year-old Mr Collins's sole name in 2007

Miss Curran said she had ‘trusted’ in her partner that, if they ever split up, she would be given a ‘fair share’ of the property and business, bought for a total of £750,000. However, when the case reached the Central London County Court last May, Judge Hazel Marshall concluded that the couple had not established a business partnership.

Miss Curran told Lord Justice Toulson yesterday that she had put a lot of hard work into making the business successful, but was left with nothing to show for it.

'Sadly, the appellant found herself in the classic position of a woman jilted in her early 50s, having very much made her life with the respondent for over 30 years.The law of property can be harsh on people, usually women, in that situation. Bluntly, the law remains unfair to people in the appellant’s position, but the judge was constrained to apply the law as it is' Lord Justice Toulson



‘I was absolutely stripped of everything,’ she said, sobbing in court. ‘The person you see sitting here today is not the person I was, because I have been destroyed.’

Lord Justice Toulson said judges ‘ought not to be affected by human sympathies; they must apply the law as they see it’. However, he added: ‘It was extremely difficult not to be affected by a sense that the appellant has, in truth, been treated unfairly.

‘She describes herself as a nobody, but with a profound sense that what’s happened was not just. She says she worked really hard at the kennels and got nothing for it.’

He added that, given Judge Marshall said she believed Miss Curran was essentially a truthful witness – and that Mr Collins himself had at times suggested to third parties that the business had truly been a partnership – Miss Curran should have permission to bring a full appeal against the initial decision.

Mr Collins was neither present, nor represented at the hearing.

A report published by the Law Commission in 2007 had recommended that property laws be reformed as they were unfair to those in Miss Curran’s position.



The body wanted to give those in cohabiting relationships the same rights as married couples in order to ‘reflect the growing prevalence and public acceptance of cohabitation’.