Financial Interests When Separating – ‘Make Your Intentions Known'

Senior associate Lucy Gould reviews the recent case of Davis v Jackson [2017] EWHC 698 (Ch), in which the court determined the beneficial interests a separated (but not divorced) married couple each held in a property. The property was owned in joint names but occupied only by the wife, who had solely financed its purchase and the mortgage.

Background

The husband (H) and wife (W) separated (although did not divorce) in 2001. In January 2003, W remortgaged a property in her name in order to purchase the property that became the subject of these proceedings. She then lived in this new property with the children of the family. The property was registered in W's sole name and subject to an interest only mortgage, the cost of which was met by her alone.