Justice Jainarayan Singh Jr last month awarded the former common-law wife of businessman William McDonald a $60 million High Court judgment after years of a court battle between the two over a share of property they had acquired jointly.
The ruling was handed down in favour of Elise Park, who shared a common-law relationship with McDonald for 24 years (1978-2002). She was also awarded a further sum of $200,000 monthly.
McDonald was also ordered to pay the monthly utility bills for his former spouse at her Atlantic Ville, East Coast Demerara home along with the yearly rates and taxes and water bills. In addition, the court granted her full and undisturbed access and possession of the home and costs in the sum of $50,000.
In 2002, McDonald filed a summons in the High Court and obtained injunctive orders from Justice BS Roy restraining Park and her nephew, Garrett Williams, from entering his business premises at 148 Regent Street and at 178 Alexander Street, and further in any other way interfering with the affairs of his business. The businessman had also sought the court’s intervention to determine in what shares or portion should the property acquired during the common-law relationship with Park, be divided.
But Park had jointly owned the Alexander Street property with McDonald, and realizing that she was locked out of the business which was acquired during their relationship, she also applied for and obtained injunctions preventing McDonald from selling, leasing, mortgaging or in any other way alienating or disposing of any of the immovable property they acquired during the relationship. Justice BS Roy also granted these injunctions.
By consent, the attorneys for both parties agreed to have the two matters consolidated and heard together and to forego arguments on the various injunctive reliefs, so as to have a speedy and final determination of the parties rights to the substantial assets they acquired during the relationship.
The aforementioned assets are: a property at Atlantic Ville, a property used as a bond, a home at Festival City, Banks DIH shares jointly owned and vehicles in the names of their two children who are now residing in the US.
During the trial McDonald’s lawyer Anil Nandlall, who had taken over from Oliver Valz (now deceased) had contended that his client was married in the US in 1984 to another woman, and was divorced in 1995. He argued that any property acquired during that period ought not to be considered matrimonial property for the purpose of the matters before the court.
But Park submitted through her attorney Lyndon Amsterdam that it was an arranged marriage with the sole purpose of McDonald obtaining permanent residence in the US and therefore there was never a break in their common-law relationship.
She said that both of them travelled back to Guyana after the marriage later that year, and continued to live together.
Justice Singh in ruling said he believed the evidence of Park that the marriage was an arranged one that was never consummated and further stated that he considered this marriage to be a “classic business wedding” for the sole purpose of obtaining permanent residence in the US. He also took into consideration that Park had borne two children for McDonald in their “better times”, had worked even and straight with him in various business ventures and had received no salary for her efforts over the years.
