House of Lords back 65% share for unmarried partner

The recent House of Lords ruling in Stack v Dowden will have important consequences for  same sex couples who buy a property together, if they have not registered a Civil Partnership.

On 25th April this year the Lords held that a property bought in joint names by an unmarried couple (without specifying any particular shares) must be presumed to be owned equally. Only in very unusual circumstances is there any room to look behind this. Because in this particular case the couple had kept all their other finances separate over their 27-year relationship, the Lords decided that Dehra Dowden, who had contributed 65% of the purchase price, was entitled to the same share of the sale proceeds (worth about £485,000 to her).

But it’s going to be difficult to persuade a Court that a jointly owned property is a ‘very unusual case’. The moral is, make sure you specify your shares at the time of purchase if you want to be credited with extra contributions.

Or – register a civil partnership. Under the Civil Partnership Act the Courthas a wide discretion to re-allocate property rights on dissolution, including maintenance and pension awards, none of which areavailable to unregistered couples.

For further information please contact Nigel Humphreys or the Civil Partnership Team on 01206 578282 or civilpartners@fjg.co.uk.   Alternatively visit our web site www.fjg.co.uk.