Bankruptcy
Reid-Roberts and another v Lin and another [2026] EWHC 49 (Ch)
The Chancery Division considered an appeal by trustees in bankruptcy and cross-appeal by the respondents against a decision concerning the property interests of joint trustees in bankruptcy and the bankrupt's ex-wife. The appellants (‘the trustees’) are the joint trustees in bankruptcy of the second respondent, Audun Mar Gudmundsson (‘Mr Gudmundsson’). The first respondent, Hsiao Mei-Lin (‘Ms Lin’), was formerly married to Mr Gudmundsson, and owned together with him the property known as 9 Southcote Road, London N19 5BJ (‘the property’). The court dismissed Ms Lin's cross-appeal, which claimed that Mr Gudmundsson had transferred his beneficial interest in their jointly-owned property to her via WhatsApp and email exchanges before his bankruptcy. The court found these communications did not evince a clear intention to divest his interest immediately, and even if they had, the WhatsApp messages would not have satisfied the writing requirements under s 53(1) of the Law of Property Act 1925. The court partly allowed the trustees' appeal against the deputy judge's deferment of the property sale for over
