Ex-wife loses out in court wrangle over £5m

Tracey Ann de Bruyne wanted all the wealth generated by a 5m share sale included in the assets of her failed marriage to John de Bruyne, son of the late Dr Norman de Bruyne, inventor of Araldite glue.

She could then claim a share of the total amount in divorce settlement hearings.

But yesterday three appeal judges upheld a ruling that the money was a trust fund and most of it belonged to her three children, triplets Anita, Jessica and John, who were born in 1989.

Dr de Bruyne, who died in 1997, set up the fund in the form of shares in his company, Techne Corporation, in 1971 to benefit his wife, Elma, and his descendants.

In 1991, control of the fund went to John de Bruyne and his wife who sold shares worth 5.43m to buy antiques, property and a business.

Their marriage broke down in 2004, sparking a battle over the assets involving the couple, the triplets and Mr de Bruyne's children from his first marriage which ended in 1988.

Mrs de Bruyne disputed at a county court hearing in October last year that the shares were trust assets in the husband's hands for the benefit of the children.

Lord Justice Patten, giving the ruling of the appeal judges, said her case was that any promises her former husband may have given to place the shares into a trust for the children's benefit was no more than a statement of intention and not an obligation.

"If this is right then the assets now representing the shares are available for distribution in the ancillary relief proceedings," said the judge.

The judge said it was agreed by the parties that the money raised from the shares is represented by the value of Trumpington Investments, a company which owns the family home, Anstey Hall, and Anstey Hall Farm in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire.

The properties are worth in the region of 5.1m.

Lord Justice Patten said none of the assets were ever placed in a trust fund for the children by Mr de Bruyne but the triplets will now receive 60 per cent of the disputed amount after the ruling by Judge O'Brien at Cambridge County Court.

The county court judge had accepted that Norman de Bruyne and his wife only agreed to transfer the fund to his son on the understanding that he would put them into a trust fund for the children.

Lord Justice Patten said that in these circumstances the husband was not free to deal with the shares as his own.

Mrs de Bruyne moved to Italy after her divorce in 2004 but Mr de Bruyne still lives at Anstey Hall with the five children.