Words spoken in conversation during parties’ intimate relationships can assume an unforeseen legal significance when examined years later by the courts. The facts in Rowe v Prance [1999] 2 FLR 787, [1999] All ER (D) 496 serve as a vivid illustration of this.
Sail away
The claimant was a widow who cohabited for 14 years with the defendant, a married man of considerable private means. In 1993, he told the claimant he would divorce his wife and use the proceeds of the sale of the matrimonial home to buy a yacht for them to share and sail around the world. The defendant duly purchased a yacht for £172,000, which was renamed so as to incorporate the parties’ respective names.
The yacht was registered in the defendant’s sole name, the defendant giving the excuse that a joint registration was not possible because the claimant did not possess an ocean master’s certificate. The claimant gave up her rented house and put her furniture in storage in order to base herself on
