Burns v Burns: The Fable Forty Years On

Hayward, Andy

Abstract

This chapter revisits the well-known decision of Burns v Burns, which has become one of the most discussed, contested, and politicised cases in the field of family property law. Decided in 1983 by the Court of Appeal in England and Wales, the case saw Mrs Burns fail to establish a trust interest in the family home owned by Mr Burns owing to the absence of a mutual agreement to share beneficial ownership or a qualifying financial contribution upon which the court could infer an implied trust. Many commentators consider Burns as the classic example of the injustice caused by the implied trusts when applied in the domestic context and use Mrs Burns’s fate as rallying cry for cohabitation reform. Others see the case as an exaggerated ‘atrocity tale’ that is no longer representative of the law applicable today or the type of litigant having to rely on the trusts framework. This chapter revisits this case and interrogates these claims to ask whether Burns can meaningfully contribute to reform conversations today.

Citation

Hayward, A. (2024). Burns v Burns: The Fable Forty Years On. In M. Briggs, & A. Hayward (Eds.), Research Handbook on Family Property and the Law (441–460). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802204681.00039

• Online Publication Date: Jun 13, 2024
• Publication Date: Jun 13, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jan 19, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 14, 2024
• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
• Pages: 441–460
• Series Title: Research Handbooks in Family Law
• Book Title: Research Handbook on Family Property and the Law
• Chapter Number: 28
• ISBN: 9781802204674
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802204681.00039
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2150658
• Publisher URL: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/research-handbook-on-family-property-and-the-law-9781802204674.html
• Contract Date: Jan 12, 2024