by Andrew Carey
A BUSINESS woman and beautician has successfully sued her daughter at Limerick Circuit Court over her failure to repay a family loan given to her for tuition fees at the University of Limerick.
Galina Kovatchieve Heaney moved from her native Bulgaria to Ireland in the early 2000s and later married her husband, Christy. She had a grown-up daughter living in Bulgaria and regularly sent her money from her earnings in Ireland.
Her daughter Maja Kovatchieve, who is now married in Limerick with two children, finished her third level studies in South Africa was asked if she would come to Ireland to be with her mother.
An offer to pay her college fees in Ireland was made by Galina Heaney on the basis that once she started to work and earn a living, Maja would repay the debt. The money came from an inheritance to Christy Heaney from his late mother and a number of payments were made to the University of Limerick for the benefit of Maja’s education.
Ms Heaney added that she also paid for a three month beauty course for her daughter after she finished her degree course in the University of Limerick.
Ms Kovatchieve worked for her mother at weekends and during college vacations at the family’s West Clare beauticians.
Ms Heaney, now living in Moyasta, County Clare, said that she never asked for her own money but for her husband’s money to be repaid by Maja.
“I probably gave her too much over the time” Ms Heaney said adding that she had asked her daughter in 2008 when she was going to start repaying the borrowed money.
In June 2013, a civil bill notifying Maja Kovatchieve that her mother was suing her was issued by the court.
“I’m really sorry. I am a good mother and this has nothing to do with family issues, my relationship with her broke down and it was affecting my marriage because she didn’t repay the debt to my husband.
Ms Kovatchieve said that her mother never asked her to repay the money and that she never made any indications that she would do so. She denied that her mother gave her a loan and that her mother wanted a family member from Bulgaria to be with her in Ireland, “so she wanted a normal mother/daughter relationship.
“She just cared for me and she never asked me for money before”, Ms Kovatchieve told Judge Tom O’Donnell, adding that she worked in her mother’s business without pay while she was at college and for a period of time thereafter.
Her relationship with her mother broke down over family issues
She said it was an important part of Bulgarian culture that “parents do everything to educate their children. I’m embarrassed that it has come to this. It wouldn’t happen in Bulgaria.”
Describing it as one of the “most bizare cases”, that had come before the circuit court, Judge O’Donnell said that he had to look beyond the relationship of the parties and look to the evidence.
He was satisfied that Ms Kovatchieve understood it was a loan and ordered her to repay €21,708 to Galina Heaney with costs awarded costs to the plaintiff. He directed that €5,000 be paid to Ms Heaney within ten days, in the event that Ms Kovatchieve lodged an appeal to the High Court.
