Steven Gallagher was awarded a first class LL.B.  He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2006.  Steven teaches the equity and trusts courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students.  Steven also teaches a course on art, antiquities, cultural heritage and the law on the LLM programme.  Steven has presented continuing professional development courses for solicitors in Hong Kong on many topics associated with equity.  Steven’s research interests include equity and the law of trusts, cultural heritage law and legal history.

This three-hour seminar will provide an introduction and overview of the use of equity to establish and/or vary interests in property purchased as a family home.  The seminar will consider how the court may consider beneficial interests in the family home upon divorce.  The seminar then considers how unmarried couples may have interests in the family home when the property is held in the couple’s joint names, in the sole name of one of the couple or when neither of the couple have legal title to the property.  The seminar considers how express trusts, resulting trusts, constructive trusts, proprietary estoppel and promissory estoppel may affect interests in the family home.

• Express trusts and ancillary relief;
• Ante-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements;
• Co-ownership of the family home after Stack v Dowden [2007] UKHL 17;
• Varying interests in the family home after Jones v Kernott [2011] UKSC 53;
• Establishing an interest in another’s property by way of resulting trust, constructive trust and/or proprietary estoppel;
• Establishing an interest in a property by way of promissory estoppel;
• How to decide on ownership issues when a property is in joint names;
• How to decide on ownership issues when a property is in a single name;
• How to decide on ownership issues when a property is in neither party’s name.