By Anthony Jones, Solicitor

It is anticipated that the Judgment in the Supreme Court in the case of Kernott –v- Jones will be handed down soon but will the Court take advantage of clarifying the law in relation to unmarried couples?

The issue that the Supreme Court will be exploring is whether a Court can infer an agreement that an unmarried couple changed their interests in a property which they held in equal shares at the date of their separation.

In 1983 Patricia Jones and Leonard Kernott started living together in Miss Jones’ home.  They had two children together in 1984 and 1986.  In May 1985 they purchased a property in joint names using the proceeds of sale from Miss Jones’ home and taking out a joint mortgage for the balance.  They separated in 1993 and Mr Kernott moved out of the property and purchased another property.  Miss Jones continued to live in the property and Mr Kernott made no further contributions to the payment of the mortgage or the up-keep of the property or to the outgoings.  In 2006 Mr Kernott sought to realise his interest in the property.  It was Miss Jones who then issued proceedings to determine the parties’ respective beneficial interest.  The Judge at first instance found that Miss Jones had a 90% share and Mr Kernott a 10% share of the equity in the property.  This was overturned by the Court of Appeal and held that the shares were held equally by the parties. 

The decision to be made by the Supreme Court is overdue in unmarried couple cases. Various cases of dividing joint property between unmarried couples over the years has resulted in different outcomes.  The current position regarding jointly owned property is that equity should follow the law. As the law states that a jointly owned property is held with the co-owner as a joint tenant then the equitable interest should also be held as joint tenants so the property should be divided equally.

It is likely in my view that if the Supreme Court rules that a Court can properly infer an agreement that the parties’ respective interest should alter after separation then this could lead to many more joint ownership cases for unmarried couples being litigated through the Courts as each seeks to argue how they have respectively contributed towards the property since separation.

This area of law is particularly complex and therefore if you are unsure about your financial position in an unmarried relationship then you should seek independent legal advice

Anthony Jones can be contacted at our Wilmslow Office on 01625 531676 or via email anthony.jones@chafes.co.uk