header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
24 May 2024 / David Burrows
Issue: 8072 / Categories: Features , Family , Property , Wills & Probate
printer mail-detail

Family law: land grab on the farm?

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
174025
David Burrows reflects on the tangled legacies we leave behind
  • How does the court define what is to be paid out where an issue arises between family members as to how family property should be divided up or sold?
  • A family farm owned by parents and a son: who owns the farm on the parents’ death; and how does that affect the rights of other surviving siblings?
  • How much ‘undue influence’ on a parent, and the signing of her will, is needed to make the will invalid?

Cases on the varied circumstances of family breakdown, family partnership and property distribution are relatively rare; then in ten weeks, four cases arrived from the Court of Appeal, all looking at different points. First were Savage v Savage [2024] EWCA Civ 49, [2024] All ER (D) 07 (Feb) and Williams v Williams & ors [2024] EWCA Civ 42, [2024] 4 WLR 10, [2024] All ER (D) 21 (Feb), where judgments were handed down on the same day (1 February 2024). The third was Rea v Rea & others [2024]

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Hogan Lovells—Lisa Quelch

Hogan Lovells—Lisa Quelch

Partner hire strengthens global infrastructure and energy financing practice

Sherrards—Jan Kunstyr

Sherrards—Jan Kunstyr

Legal director bolsters international expertise in dispute resolution team

Muckle LLP—Stacey Brown

Muckle LLP—Stacey Brown

Corporate governance and company law specialist joins the team

NEWS
Read All
Legal notice: Notice under the Trustee Act 1925

NOTICE UNDER THE TRUSTEE ACT 1925

HERBERT SMITH STAFF PENSION SCHEME (THE “SCHEME”)

NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND BENEFICIARIES UNDER SECTION 27 OF THE TRUSTEE ACT 1925
Emergency lawyers on call as international regulatory actions soar
Law firm HFW is offering clients lawyers on call for dawn raids, sanctions issues and other regulatory emergencies
NLJ this week: Employment law’s fine margins
From gender-critical speech to notice periods and incapability dismissals, employment law continues to turn on fine distinctions. In his latest employment law brief for NLJ, Ian Smith of Norwich Law School reviews a cluster of recent decisions, led by Bailey v Stonewall, where the Court of Appeal clarified the limits of third-party liability under the Equality Act
NLJ this week: Promises broken on non-molestation orders?
Non-molestation orders are meant to be the frontline defence against domestic abuse, yet their enforcement often falls short. Writing in NLJ this week, Jeni Kavanagh, Jessica Mortimer and Oliver Kavanagh analyse why the criminalisation of breach has failed to deliver consistent protection
NLJ this week: Assisted dying under the legal microscope
Assisted dying remains one of the most fraught fault lines in English law, where compassion and criminal liability sit uncomfortably close. Writing in NLJ this week, Julie Gowland and Barny Croft of Birketts examine how acts motivated by care—booking travel, completing paperwork, or offering emotional support—can still fall within the wide reach of the Suicide Act 1961
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll