Cohabitation and Family Property
Deans Court Chambers family team provides advice and representation in the range of family property disputes which can occur with the social and financial complexities of modern family life.
Our practitioners regularly appear in financial disputes arising from relationship breakdown between cohabitees, principally in relation to the ownership of the family home under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (‘ToLATA’) but also issues arising from joint ownership of other assets.
Increasingly cases about family property arise not just as cohabitation disputes but between parents and their children, between siblings and between other family members. We bring the practical sensitive problem solving approach of specialist family counsel to the application of difficult principles of constructive and resulting trusts, proprietary estoppel, and equitable accounting.
We act in disputes arising from the inheritance of family wealth, whether they be claims for financial provision under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 or even disputes about the validity of wills.
The members of our cohabitation and family property team are:-