A dispute has broken out over the estate of former corporate lawyer Bartholomew Gold, who died at age 43 in December 2020 without leaving a will. Under intestacy rules, his estate was supposed to be shared between his widow, massage therapist Phikul Harte, and his teenage son from his previous marriage to Airbnb host Marsha Gomez.
A problem occurred when £434,134 from the sale of Mr. Gold’s luxury seven-bedroom seafront home in Langstone, Hampshire, was mistakenly transferred to Ms. Gomez in 2024. A High Court judge later ruled the sale proceeds belonged to the estate and therefore ordered Ms. Gomez to repay about £447,000, including interest, and removed her as a personal representative.
However, Ms. Harte has alleged that Ms. Gomez “dissipated and misappropriated” the money instead of preserving it for the estate. According to Ms. Harte’s attorney, Ms. Gomez’s spending included around £39,000 on mortgage payments, almost £36,000 on credit cards and loans, and more than £34,000 on “sundries,” such as double-glazed windows and general living costs.
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Ms. Gomez has not denied these allegations and, in her own words, “It is not disputed that I received the sum of circa £435,000. I then invested £275,000 of these monies…Shares were bought in the name of my son.” She further added, “The remaining £160,000 was then spent, gifted and used to pay for legal fees in the sum of between £30,000 to £40,000. In short, therefore, the monies are not readily available for payment to the claimant because they have been dissipated.”
Since the High Court order has not been satisfied, Ms. Harte has asked the Central London County Court to extend a freezing injunction on Ms. Gomez’s assets. Her attorney has argued that there is a “real and continuing risk of dissipation,” pointing out that Ms. Gomez previously claimed she was holding the funds “safe” while she was actually spending them.
Ms. Harte’s lawyer further added, “It is clear from the defendant’s October witness statement and recent affidavits that this was untrue. The defendant had in fact already invested £275,000…by that time and either had already used, or went on to use, estate funds to pay for new double-glazed windows and her mortgage repayments.”
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Moreover, the attorney mentioned, “The defendant has dissipated estate funds which she knew did not belong to her beneficially and has continuously chosen not to disclose various assets in her ownership or control in breach of various orders against her.”
Ms. Gomez has, however, claimed that she does intend to “resolve the debt” and added that she would be able to do so through her property holdings, which her lawyer, Suleman Shams, said carry equity of about £875,000.
After a full day of arguments, Alan Johns, KC, reserved his decision on whether the freezing order should remain in place. A final ruling on the injunction and how far Ms. Harte can secure recovery of the missing funds from the estate will be given at a later date.
