A woman whose multi-millionaire Tycoon partner organized an 'extensive performance' in the Liechtenstein Alps to mislead her for her financial rights, has warned other women to learn from her mistakes.
Furniture designer Christina Haynes was brought by company director Mark Austin, her partner of 14 years and the father of her two children, to the rich tax port to sign what she believed that they were official legal documents that promised her half of the value of their £ 18 million London mansion if it ever had to be sold.
The couple were never married and Mrs. Haynes, 44, was led to believe that the move would help to guarantee financial security for themselves and their children in the absence of a wedding ring.
Furniture designer Christina Haynes and Mark Austin in 2003
But earlier this month she was destroyed after a ruling from the Supreme Court that the documents did not give her legal rights to the property – and in fact a 'cruel' gesture were designed to keep her happy.
If she gives her first interview about the betrayal, she told the post on Sunday that she is determined that her experience should serve as a warning to prevent other women from being financially linked by their partner.
“Find independent legal advice,” she advises.
'If your partner loves you as much as they claim, they will have no problem with you that you do that, in fact they will support you because it is good to do.
“If they present something with a smile and ask you to sign it, saying that it is for your protection, be on your guard.”
Mrs. Haynes, a former travel editor who has given up her job to raise their children, insists that she had no reason to doubt the charismatic and adventurous Lord Austin.
They had met through mutual friends in 2000 and enjoyed what she describes as a 'blissfully happy' relationship.
Mr Austin, who is her senior for 27 years and was married twice before, owned an image Library Company, Digital Vision LTD, and traveled the world with a passion for Polo.
The couple discussed a wedding in Ibiza in 2006, but the plans were put on hold when Christina became pregnant with their son, who was born in 2007.
Their daughter arrived in 2011.
The couple were never married and Mrs. Haynes (photo) was led to believe that the move would help to guarantee financial security in the long term for themselves and their children in the absence of a wedding ring
Their relationship was unconventional according to all reports. Mr Austin had moved to Switzerland to prevent high taxes after he had sold his company to Getty images.
The proceeds were placed in Offshore Trusts, including a registered person in Liechtenstein.
He traveled back and forward to the parental home, a mansion in Holland Park in London, which was purchased for £ 5.5 million and transferred the ownership to a trust.
But it was, Christina admits, a charmed life. The house had parked two resident employees, gardeners and top-of-the-range Bentleys and Range Rovers.
Their neighbors were Robbie Williams, the Beckhams and Richard Branson, and their holidays were spent in luxurious, distant destinations such as the Maldives, India and the Alps.
But as the years passed, she started to question that they were not married.
“Mark wanted the facade to be a family,” she says. 'I expected that we would love nuclear family, hang out together and have fun. And I really wanted to get married, the same name as my children. '
So when in 2014 Mr Austin invited her to Liechtenstein, apparently to sign documents about the house, Christina says she easily agreed.
There were no 'red flags', she says.
Furniture company Baas Christina Haynes outside the London Supreme Court
But earlier this month she was destroyed after a ruling from the Supreme Court that the documents did not give her legal rights to the property – and in fact a 'cruel' gesture were designed to keep her happy. Displayed: Christina Haynes and Mark Austin
Indeed, she claims that she would do the same again.
“The way I felt about Mark, I couldn't have imagined that he did this at all,” she adds. “And if I had worried, I bet that my life would have looked at me and told me that it was all in my mind.”
She flew to Zurich in March 2014 and spent one night in the five -star Dolder Grand Hotel before being driven to Liechtenstein.
During a meeting in the offices of the Trust, Christina was told that Mr Austin had signed a document that was known as a 'letter of Wishes' in which he outlined his expectation for the confidence to give Christina – and the children – part of the Real Estate Holland where it would be sold.
Driven by his signature, she signed a 'letter of Wishes' that reflected his.
A lawyer noted the signing and convinced her that the wishes of Mr Austin would be formalized in the future. But, as the court later heard, this was not the case.
The couple divorced in February 2018, for reasons that Christina would rather not announce, but what led to the relationship 'quickly bitter'.
And when Mr. Austin's confidence moved to sell the parental home, Christina's lawyers told her the terrible truth: the documents they signed were not legally binding.
Despite his written wishes, Mr Austin – then worth around £ 66 million – had decided that she would not get a cent.
He agreed in family law procedure to pay her £ 2.75 million, but when that did not come out, she went back to court and claimed that he had promised to give her half the value of the parental home.
Judge Joanne Wicks KC, however, rejected the claim at the Supreme Court and concluded that the Liechtenstein trip was an 'extensive version that was designed to make her feel'.
Many people would regard the deception as 'a cruelty', she said, “but that is insufficient to give her legal rights.”
Christina rejects that she was behind Mr Austin's money – pointing out that when men talk about money, it is a smart business movement; If a woman does that, she immediately labeled a golden excavator '.
And after all, the law would have seen very differently on her claim if they were married.
“People think that if you are with someone for ten years, 20 years old, it means something, but in the eyes of the law, it is not and that is what happened to me,” she says.
“As Mark told me very clearly after we broke up:” You just became a different file on my desk “.”
Christina has now sold the cars, her diamonds and her 'obscene' collection of handbags to pay the bills.
She has a roof over her head until the confidence offers her another real estate – but that comes with other problems, including that she can no longer pay the staff.
“This house is not a cozy house, it is a bona fide nightmare, related to painting the Golden Gate Bridge, where as soon as you come to the end, the start requires your attention again,” she says.
And her take-home for other women is simple: a lawyer.
