Beneficial ownership of the family home

A fruitful source of litigation has been the differences that arise when an unmarried couple part company, having acquired a house. The question is whether just one, or both parties have beneficial interests in the house, and if both do what their respective shares are. Of course, the same problems can arise in relation to the matrimonial home, when a marriage comes to an end. However, where the parties are married the family courts have wide powers to make property adjustment orders. If the parties are not married, there is no such jurisdiction, and the issues can only be decided in accordance with the property law principles. The issues were discussed by the House of Lords in Stack v Dowden [2007] UKHL 17 and have now been revisited by the Supreme Court in Jones v Kernott [2011] UKSC 53.