In a recent House of Lords, Stack and Dowden, the parties, had lived together for 27 years. The family home was held in joint names as joint tenants. Nevertheless in this case which was described by the Lords as “very unusual, even exceptional” they agreed with the Court of Appeal’s decision that the sale proceeds should be divided as to 65% to Miss Dowden and 35% to Mr Stack.

The majority of the Lords held that a common intention to hold the property in unequal shares could be inferred from their behaviour and contributions to the property. Unusually in this case the parties had never pooled their resources but had kept their financial affairs “rigidly separate”.

The presumption remains that couples who buy property legally and beneficially in joint names are entitled to 50% and for unmarried couples any concept of “fairness” is irrelevant. Couples who do not marry or enter in to a civil partnership should consider having a Cohabitation Agreement which decides which records their agreement as to how their assets are to be divided in the event of separation.