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.

This three-hour seminar will provide an introduction and overview of the use of equity to establish and/or vary interests in property  The seminar will consider implied trusts and the development of the law of resulting and constructive trusts to recognise interests in property.  The seminar will provide an overview of automatic resulting trusts and constructive trusts  The seminar will consider the circumstances in which automatic resulting trusts arise and how they have been developed  In particular, we will consider the use of automatic resulting trusts to justify the recognition of Quistclose trusts and contrast these with the use of Romalpa clauses  The seminar will conclude by considering the use of remedial as opposed to institutional constructive trusts and the categories of constructive trust that may be recognised in Hong Kong  The common intention constructive trust will be considered as and compared to the doctrine of proprietary estoppel.

• Implied trusts;
• The origins of the doctrines of resulting trusts and constructive trusts;
• The automatic resulting trust;
• Quistclose trusts;
• Romalpa clauses;
• Remedial and institutional constructive trusts;
• The categories of constructive trust recognised in Hong Kong;
• Common intention constructive trusts and proprietary estoppel;
• The disputed issues in this area of the law.