Yoga teacher in £5m inheritance battle with brother of late husband over fears she would ‘disappear to Brazil’
A yoga teacher and birth doula who claims she was stripped of her fortune because she feared her late husband would “disappear in Brazil” with their children when he died is now fighting a £5 million court battle with her brother.
Brazilian-born Gabriela Teixeira, 41, married wealthy London property investor and restaurateur Abbas Moaven in 2002 after they first met at one of his restaurants in Notting Hill in 2000.
They had two children and lived in a string of luxury properties around some of the capital’s most desirable neighbourhoods, including Holland Park and Kensington.
But after Abbas died in 2012 at the age of 45, Gabriela was shocked to learn that the assets she would share with her two now-adult children would have no value.
Weeks before his death, he had signed legal documents declaring that the four properties, then valued at over £3 million, were not wholly his own but were in fact shared with his mother and brother Amir, “significantly reducing” the property he would inherit and potentially leaving it worthless due to debts.
Now, along with her children, Elis and Aryan, she is fighting her husband’s brother, Amir Moaven, in the Supreme Court to return the property to her husband’s estate and allow him and his children to inherit all their values.
She claims documents signed by her husband declaring that the properties were not entirely hers were “forged”, points to notes her lawyers took following a meeting with Amir, describes concerns that she might leave the UK with the children after Abbas dies, and Amir questions how this could have been prevented.
Her lawyer, Alexander Learmonth KC, said the lawyers’ notes confirmed the acts were “sham” and “done with the express purpose of disproving Gabriela and/or her children’s claim against the estate”.
Allegedly, all the properties will belong to him and after the debts are paid, he and his children will inherit up to £5 million.
But his brother-in-law, Amir, insists that the declarations of trust were legitimate and merely put in writing that the properties were owned in equal shares by the brothers and their mother, as always.
He says Gabriela’s allegations amount to an accusation that her late husband lied about not being the sole owner of the properties in order to “defraud and/or control her” from beyond the grave, and she can’t prove it.
A doula is a non-clinical professional who provides physical and emotional support to families before, during and after birth, often attending actual births.
Gabriela, who is also a yoga teacher, describes in her online profile that she received a “call to service” when she was given the gift of a doula after the birth of her first child.
She says each birth and family is “unique” and that she “supports the family’s needs and wishes, while also helping the mother feel confident and confident in her instinctive ability to give birth.”
Her husband Abbas and his brother Amir moved from Iran to England in 1982 to live with their father and later opened a clothing store called Homeboy in West London.
They then branched out into the then-burgeoning mobile phone market and later restaurants in the mid-1990s, while also acquiring a number of properties around the capital.
Gabriela and Abbas met at his restaurant The Gate, near Notting Hill Gate Station, and began dating in 2001, when Gabriela moved into the flat she shared with Amir in Queen’s Gate, Kensington.
While giving evidence, he told the judge, Deputy Master Timothy Bowles, that Abbas had given no indication that the flat was not entirely his.
Abbas was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 and died in May 2012; His last will left his assets in third shares to his widow and two children, Elis Teixeira Moaven (22) and Aryan Moaven (19).
But the court heard the property had “dwindled significantly” because Abbas, just weeks before he died and while in hospital in April 2012, had signed trust documents declaring that a one-third share of four properties in his name belonged to himself, his brother Amir and their mother Nazemi Tehran.
In court, Gabriela’s lawyer, Alexander Learmonth KC, said that if the trust declaration was valid, the estate would potentially become “exhausted” by other debts.
But he argues that the documents were “clearly forged” and designed to prevent his wife or creditors from claiming most of his assets after Abbas’ death.
He noted an attendance note of a meeting between Abbas’ lawyer and Amir in which Abbas was “seriously unwell” at home and was trying to “arrange his brother’s affairs.”
The lawyers’ note stated: “What would happen if Abbas passed away and his wife left for Brazil with their two children? How could they have prevented this and denied her access to funds from property assets?”
A memo following another meeting added: “Amir confirmed that his main intention was to ensure the welfare of Abbas’s children because he was confident that all assets transferred to Abbas’s wife would be distributed.”
Mr Learmonth told the judge that the notes “make it clear that if the declarations of trust were indeed intended to have any legal effect, then they were made for the purpose of disproving Gabriela and/or her children’s claim against the estate”.
He continued: “Abbas never intended his various declarations of trust to create any real change in legal relations or to deprive himself of his own interests.
“He only intended for them to be used to the extent necessary to fend off claims by Gabriela or potential creditors. It is clear that they are fake.”
Amir, now 55, claims that four properties, including Gabriela’s former homes at Queen’s Gate, Holland Park and Brasenose House in Kensington, as well as rental properties in Maida Hill, were placed in Abbas’ name only for “cultural reasons” because he was Abbas’ older brother.
But Mr Learmonth said this contrasted with other luxury properties around Kensington being held in the sole name of younger brother Amir.
He continued: “Gabriela says that although they lived in three of them during their marriage, Abbas never told her or implied that Amir had an interest in any property, or acted in a way that suggested that he did.
“Holland Park and Brasenose were house-hunted together by Gabriela and Abbas; the former as a place for their growing family to live, the latter as an investment into which they later moved.
“This evidence is not consistent with Amir and Nazemi having any involvement, let alone financial involvement, or a common intention to have a benefit.
“Significantly, amidst the pages of evidence and almost 14 years later, Amir has produced nothing to suggest that Amir or Nazemi made financial contributions to any property.
“It is deeply unsatisfactory that 14 years later, Gabriela and her two children, now grown from infancy to adulthood, have not received a proper accounting of Abbas’s inheritance, let alone their inheritance,” he said.
He told the judge that Gabriela was anxious about returning the properties to the estate and receiving her inheritance, adding: “She is unable to maintain the lifestyle she had while Abbas was alive, with the income she earns from working as a doula.”
According to Amir, lawyer Lydia Pemberton described the dispute as a “very bitter family dispute” but insisted that the statements were “the written manifestation of the long-standing agreement” that Abbas, Amir and their mother owned equal shares of the properties.
“There is no doubt that the plaintiffs were deeply disappointed that Abbas’ wealth and property were not what they expected, but disappointment does not constitute a valid claim,” he told the judge.
“What plaintiffs can present in evidence does not come close to dispelling the high evidentiary burden they must have to show that their husband/father lied on the April 2012 deeds.”
He continued: “In short, Amir’s situation is a pooling of resources between himself, Abbas, and their mother, as evidenced by years of joint business ventures.
“Fundamentally, plaintiffs have no relevant knowledge or understanding of the ownership of the properties and the business dealings between Abbas, Amir and Nazemi, let alone sufficient evidence to meet the high evidentiary burden of proving fraud or dishonesty,” he said.
The court heard the brothers’ mother died in 2023. His will leaves half of his inheritance to Amir and a quarter to Elis and Aryan.
After a week-long hearing, Acting Master Bowles postponed his decision on the case to a later date.
