The village isn’t big enough for both of us

“The village isn’t big enough for both of us,” claims Margie Hanley, of Cornamona, County Galway.

Mrs Hanley has appealed to the Family Division of the High Court in London in an attempt to settle her claim over the property she and her estranged husband, Michael, have used for holidays and Christmas.  The couple jointly own the house, which they had built, and have extended it over the years.  Mr Hanley said it has “excellent views”.

Both are Irish but have lived in Europe, the Far East and the United States because of Mr Hanley’s work.  However, now that he is retired, Mr Hanley has said he wants to live in Cornamona, saying: “I like to fish, I like to walk, I play guitar, I like to cook, I like to read, I like to meditate.”

Mrs Hanley claims “ancestral rivalry” and indeed her 92-year-old mother is now the village’s oldest living resident, and generations of her family have lived there.  She said life was “much simpler” in Cornamona, describing it as “one-horse town” with a single road in and out, one shop, one pub, and a visit from the doctor just once a week.

The couple have adult children and, while the judge raised the possibility of the pair using the property during different periods during the year, Mrs Hanley has continued to live in Wentworth, Surrey, claiming that her former husband was “just torturing” her.

“He is just punishing me,” she says, “It’s where I started out.  It’s where I ended.”

The jury’s out … Wentworth or Cornamona?

For advice about property in Wentworth, contact Staines Chartered Surveyors here.