Wills & Trusts Law Reports | November 2016 #164The parties were siblings who jointly owned 502 items of 17th century Chinese porcelain gifted to them by their father between 1987 and 1993 (the Butler Family Collection (the BFC)).
In 2012 the defendants and their father formed a partnership to own and merchandise another 208 such items (formerly owned by their father).
After their father’s death disagreement arose as to what should become of the BFC. The claimants sought to have it distributed. The defendants wished to keep it in tact and made available for scholarly study and exhibition and to exploit certain items comm...
Barnes v Phillips explores the circumstances in which the beneficial shares of unmarried co-owners should be varied, as Mark Simeon Jones explains ‘This evolution of the modern law has been marked by two significant milestones; first, the judgment of the House of Lords in Stack v Dowden, and second, the judgment of the Supreme Court …
Continue reading "Co-Ownership: Inference, imputation and child maintenance"
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Sukhninder Panesar discusses Barnes v Phillips [2015], which has lessons on the role of inference and imputation in shared ownership disputes ‘An inference is an important exercise in establishing whether the parties’ original beneficial ownership has changed, and imputation is integral to establishing the exact shares once a finding of change in intention is established.’ …
Continue reading "Co-Ownership: Share with care"
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Richard Eaton and Laura Tanguay examine some welcome clarification from the Court of Appeal on balancing the competing interests of co-owners of property under a trust of land ‘The need to establish the true market value by an open-market sale would normally outweigh the… wish for a remaining co-owner to be given a right of …
Continue reading "Co-Ownership: A right to buy"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | January/February 2015 #146In 2002, the appellant and the respondent set up home together in a house in Droitwich. They remained unmarried. The property was purchased in the appellant’s sole name with his money alone, and he took on sole responsibility for the mortgage. On the breakdown of their relationship, the respondent claimed that the appellant held the property was held by him on constructive trust for both parties in equal shares. That claim failed before His Honour Judge Pearce-Higgins QC, but her alternative proprietary estoppel claim succeeded. The respondent was awarded £28,500 in satisfaction of the e...
Ben Gildea considers the current position in respect of how a person’s entitlement to the equitable interest in a property may be ascertained following a leading Supreme Court decision. ‘From now on, a party may argue that the terms on which their equitable interests are held have changed over time.’ In Britain, there are more …
Continue reading "Co-Ownership: Breaking up is hard to do"
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Mark Pawlowski provides an update on Jones v Kernott and its consequences for constructive trusts and the home ‘In Kernott v Jones, it was not in dispute that the parties had held the beneficial interest in the house in equal shares: the question for determination was whether, and if so to what extent, their respective …
Continue reading "Co-Ownership: A new approach to beneficial entitlement?"
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