The Gazette 1992

GAZETTE

MARCH 1992

8. Unreported High Court, 6th November,

1982.

9. Sometimes the evidence will show that

equal ownership was intended. In

G.K.

-v-

E.K.,

(unreported High Court, 6th

November, 1985), the wife had made a

much greater contribution to the purchase

money than her husband. However

O'Hanlon J. noted (at p.4 of his

judgement) that "the wife very fairly said

in the course of her evidence that the

parties intended the house to be in joint

ownership with equal rights to both of

them. . . . " This evidence allowed the

learned judge to hold that there should be

equal beneficial ownership, rather than a

resulting trust in favour of the wife based

on her greater contribution.

10. (19821 I.R. 153.

11. Ibid, 147.

12. Carroll J. made it clear that no

presumption of advancement applied in

favour of a husband. (Ibid at 152).

13. See, for example,

J.C.

-v-

J.H.C.,

unreported High Court, 4th August, 1982,

Keane J.

14. The parties could quite possibly be

married, but not to each other.

15. See e.g. Oliver, "The Mistress in Law",

[19781 C.L.P. 81.

16. See

Crisp

-v-

Mullings

(1975) 239 E.G. 119;

Lawrence

-v-

McFarlane

The Times, 19 May

1976;

Young

-v-

Young

[1984] Fam. Law 21

and

Walker

-v-

Hall

[1984] Fam. Law. 126.

17. [1984] Fam. Law 126.

18. Although the point under discussion does

not seem to have been litigated yet, there

have been a number of Irish cases applying

the rules concerning resulting trusts to

unmarried couples. See e.g.

McGill

-v-

Snodgrass

[1979] I.R. 283 (where the

woman's claim was unsuccessful) and

Power -v- Conroy

[1980] I.R.L.M. 31

(where the woman did succeed).

19. See e.g.

Goodman

-v-

Gallant

[1986] 1 All

E.R. 311. A theoretical argument could be

raised to the effect that the English

practice would not be entirely effective in

Ireland, given our highly idiosyncratic

theoretical approach to the whole area of

trusts of the family home. Briefly, our

approach allows matters subsequent to the

date of purchase (e.g. the making of

mortgage repayments) to govern, in a

rather crude mathematical fashion, the

beneficial ownership, whereas the more

complex English analysis takes great pains

to relate such matters to a common

intention

existing at the time of the

purchase.

(See e.g.

Grant

-v-

Edwards

[1986] 2 All E.R. 426). The point is that

an express declaration in the conveyance

would reveal the intention as to the

equitable ownership at the time of the

purchase (the crucial time in England),

whereas in Ireland the intention of the

parties at the time of a subsequent

contribution may instead be determinative.

20. It seems that if the couple consulted the

solicitor together and expressed their desire

to share equally in the ownership of the

home, this expression of intention could

amount to sufficient evidence to rebut the

presumption of resulting trust which

would arise in favour of the partner who

made the larger contribution.

European Lawyers

Union Annual

Conference

Biarritz - June 1992

T he U A E (European Lawyers Un i o n)

is holding its next Annual Congress

in the beautiful town o f Biarritz

f r om the llth/14th June, 1992.

T he theme o f the conference will be

a Progress Report on the

developments towards a Single

Market 6 months before the Single

Market comes into being on the 1

January, 1993.

An y o ne interested in information

concerning the conference should

contact:

GeraldMoloney,

27/29

Washington Street, Co r k.

Ph o ne 021 275261;

Fax 021 271586

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