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Barnes v Phillips [2015] EWCA Civ 1056: Imputation! Imputation! Imputation!
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This judgment is somewhat unusual. I have summarised it below and highlighted tensions with the recent decision in
Capehorn v Harris [2015] EWCA Civ 955 and with the Court of Appeal's guidance on equitable accounting set out in
Willcox v Tait [2006] EWCA Civ 1867 [2007] 2 FLR 871.
Facts
The parties had been in a relationship since 1983 and had lived together since 1989. They bought their first property together in 1996 in Lee South-East London. It was purchased in the parties’ joint names in 1996 for £135k at a time when they had a two-year-old child. The purchase was funded by their £25k savings and a joint repayment mortgage of c. £110k with HSBC. The lower court found that at the time of purchase the parties were joint tenants in law and equity as that was their common intention. Mr Barnes (B) paid the mortgage and life insurance whilst Ms Phillips (P) paid the council tax. They shared the utility bills and although B may have made a greater financial contributions because he earned more P made...
Read the full article here.
