Final Decision on Property Rights of Cohabiting Couples?

The Supreme Court case of Kernott v Jones was heard on 4 May 2011. Mr Kernott and Ms Jones bought a property in joint names in 1985 and lived there with their children until they separated in 1993. Ms Jones paid all the outgoings of the property and was responsible for the children’s maintenance.

The Supreme Court must now decide whether a court can retrospectively infer an agreement by an unmarried couple to alter their interests in a jointly held property. If the Court decides that it can, then Ms Jones will be entitled to 90 per cent of the property as a result of her greater investment in it. If not, then the beneficial interest will remain at 50/50.

Until now the law has always favoured the 50/50 route for unmarried couples, regardless of factors such as contributions to purchase price, repairs, insurance, utilities etc. This has clearly opened up a gap in the law, as more and more couples are now cohabiting without marrying, and very few of them, understandably, ever consider protecting their property interest at the time of purchase in order to cover the eventuality that they seperate.

Many of these problems can be avoided if couples were to consider a Trust Deed at the time of purchase.

Elizabeth Bettes

Published on 23/05/2011