Druces’ Contentious Probate Team recently acted for the Claimant in a matter that went to trial at the Central London County Court in January 2026.
The case centred around a property purchased from the London Borough of Haringey Council under Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy scheme, permitting council tenants to purchase their properties from the local authority at a discounted price. The Claimant and the Defendant are sisters. Their parents purchased the home in which they lived in 1988. The Claimant formerly lived at the property and the Defendant continued to live there, amongst other places. The Claimant and the Defendant are two of ten children.
The mother, the Claimant, the Defendant and most of their siblings later emigrated to the USA in the 1990s.
To purchase the property, a mortgage had to be secured but the parents were too elderly to obtain one. The father sought support from many people in the community to enable him to secure a mortgage, but the council confirmed that a family member must be involved. By happenstance, the Defendant assisted with the purchase; in her own words, she “co-sign[ed]” the mortgage.
The purchase was completed and the property was registered in the names of the Defendant and her parents as joint tenants, meaning the right of survivorship applied.
The Right of Survivorship and Joint Tenancy
Fast forward to 2021: the parties’ mother had died in 2013, their father died in 2021, and the legal title to the property had never been updated. As the last surviving legal owner of property held as joint tenants, the Defendant automatically became the sole legal owner.
Under the right of survivorship, property held as joint tenants does not pass under a person’s Will or by the intestacy rules. Instead, it passes automatically to the surviving co-owner(s). Accordingly, the property did not pass under the father’s Will as the Claimant and some of her siblings had anticipated.
The only assets passing under the father’s Will were modest bank accounts. The Claimant felt this to be an injustice to her and her siblings and sought advice from Druces.
Can a Joint Tenancy Be Severed After Death?
A claim was subsequently lodged seeking an order that the joint tenancy be severed or displaced, so that the property would pass under their father’s Will.
The Claimant’s argument was that neither her parents nor her sister ever believed that the Defendant was a true co-owner of the property or that she would inherit 100% of it following their parents’ deaths. Her case was that all parties laboured under the same mistake: the Defendant had guaranteed the mortgage, but she was not intended to acquire a beneficial interest in the property.
It was argued that there had been a common intention between the parents and the Defendant that the property was owned solely by the parents as joint tenants and would therefore pass under the father’s Will, as he survived his wife.
Claims of sham, rectification and constructive trust in relation to the beneficial interest were also advanced. However, the lack of contemporaneous evidence proved decisive. The court faced the difficulty of examining a transaction that had occurred nearly forty years earlier, where two of the principal parties were no longer alive.
Ultimately, the Claimant was unsuccessful. Notwithstanding this, the judge commented that the arguments advanced at trial were impressive and that nothing further could properly have been said on the Claimant’s behalf.
Evidence and Estate Planning Lessons
This case is significant for two reasons.
First, it emphasises the established legal principle that property held as joint tenants does not pass under a person’s Will or the intestacy rules but instead passes automatically by survivorship to the surviving co-owner(s).
Secondly, it underlines the critical importance of evidence and clear reasoning in estate planning, particularly in relation to jointly owned property and beneficial interests. In this case, there was no conveyancing file available and no Will file. The parents had never recorded their wishes or intentions in writing, which may have provided valuable insight into their understanding of the property’s ownership structure.
When preparing your Will, undertaking estate planning involving jointly owned property, or otherwise making future plans, it is prudent to keep a clear record of your intentions and reasoning. This may include solicitor attendance notes, letters to solicitors, correspondence with family members, records of payments or gifts, and personal memoranda explaining ownership arrangements.
At Druces, our experience in both contentious probate disputes and non-contentious estate planning enables us to advise on both sides of the coin. Where matters begin to unravel, we advise on contentious probate and trust disputes. Equally, we assist with preparing Wills and estate planning strategies designed to minimise the risk of future disputes, drawing on our familiarity with the practical pitfalls that frequently arise.
Zoe Norton is a solicitor in Druces’ Contentious Probate team, advising on joint tenancy disputes, constructive trust claims and complex inheritance litigation. If any of the issues outlined above sound familiar, please contact a member of the team.
The Druces Contentious Probate Team will be attending the ConTRa conference in Lisbon from 18–20 March 2026. We look forward to engaging with colleagues in the contentious probate community and discussing other complex and technical matters. Our team will comprise of:
Paul Levy, Partner, Head of Contentious Trusts & Probate
