Family runs up £1million legal bill in court battle over ownership of ... trends now
Three members of a family have run up a £1million legal bill fighting a court battle over the ownership of a cottage worth £245,000.
A senior judge said it was a 'tragedy' the argument was not amicably settled.
He added the ensuing four-year legal battle that 'fractured' the farming family was 'one of the most regrettable pieces of litigation that I have ever come across'.
It began when mother-of-two Pamela Teasdale, 68, demanded a divorce from her husband Daniel, 73, after 44 years of marriage.
She wanted to continue living at Burne Farm, Todwick, South Yorkshire, and start a livery business there. But Mr Teasdale, whose family had run the farm for three generations, wanted her to leave with a lump sum payoff.
The row began after Pamela Teasdale (left) told her husband of 44 years Daniel (right) that she wanted a divorce
The family has now spent more than £1million in legal fees over who owns Cow House (pictured) on their South Yorkshire Farm
What should have been a minor complication in sorting out their affairs was dealing with the ownership of Cow House. The renovated farm building was home to their daughter Rebecca, 45, her husband Andrew Carter, 45, and their daughter.
Both parents, who have another daughter Penelope, were happy for Mrs Carter and her family to stay at the cottage, which had been transformed from a dilapidated barn at a cost of £200,000.
As the judge was to comment later, the fact that Mr Teasdale had £2.3million in the bank from the sale of some of land to developers meant finding an agreement between them should have been 'relatively straightforward'.
Instead a row over the ownership terms of the cottage blew up into a bitter family dispute in which Mrs Teasdale even accused Mrs Carter of planting a listening device in her lounge to snoop on her.
A nine-day High Court hearing followed by a two-day appeal
