Millionaire ordered to pay former de facto wife $3m

A multi-millionaire has been ordered to pay $3 million to his de facto wife after they split.

Property developer Ian Calderwood, of Auckland, must pay his former partner Mary-Ann Boys the cash after a High Court judgment issued yesterday.

Ms Boys, described as not having the qualifications to get a high-paying job, gets $3 million and can keep an expensive car, jewellery and other investments.

But she will not get a new Mercedes every three years, as she sought in her claim.

Mr Calderwood was worth $7 million when Ms Boys took a job as his secretary in the early 1980s.

A relationship began and within months he had left his wife for her.

In 1985 the couple moved in together and formed a "de facto marriage", the judgment said.

When the relationship ended in 2002 -- just before a law change giving de facto spouses the same property rights as married couples -- the couple had assets worth up to $20 million.

Ms Boys had turned down a $2.3 million settlement offer, including a $900,000 home, $1 million in cash and her Mercedes. So she sued her former partner, and four trusts he was involved with, for $8.9 million.

Her case was that Mr Calderwood had promised repeatedly that she "would never have to go out to work and that she would be taken care of in the style to which she had become accustomed", court documents said.

Mr Calderwood, who declined to comment on the judgment, insisted in court that he had made that promise only if he died -- not if they separated.

But Justice Young said he found parts of his evidence "not convincing at all".

Justice Young said Ms Boys did not have the employment or academic qualifications that would result in a high-paying job, but she had taken care of Mr Calderwood's domestic needs had entertained business and personal friends and cared for his elderly parents.

Ms Boys was awarded $3 million, including $1.5 million to buy a house.

Justice Young said a house valued at $1.5 million in a New Zealand context, "even in Auckland, is still in the very top price range of quality".

- NZPA