Trust, contribution and equitable accounting: Analysing imbalances in contribution towards mortgage payments

• Main Authors: LIM, Sing Yong, TANG, Hang Wu
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2020
• Subjects: equitable accounting; joint ownership; resulting trust; common intention constructive trust; Housing Law; Insurance Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3214; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/5172/viewcontent/TrustsContributionsEquitableAccounting_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

A frequently litigated issue across the Commonwealth is determining the beneficial interest of property in light of a breakdown of close relationships such as domestic relationships or family members or friends who may have jointly bought property together. These cases are frequently complicated by the fact that there may be imbalances in contributions of the mortgage repayments by one party. How are parties’ beneficial entitlement determined using legal or equitable doctrines? Unfortunately, the current case law has not been entirely clear and judges have used a myriad of doctrines in relation to such a fact pattern which has resulted in the jurisprudence in this area becoming extremely confusing. This article seeks to provide a principled framework to analyse the complex interplay between resulting trust, common intention constructive trust, a right of contribution and equitable accounting in relation to an imbalance in contribution to mortgage repayments.