The Court dismissed all trust claims (express, common intention constructive, and purchase money resulting trust) over a family property, finding on the evidence that the beneficial ownership was intended to align with legal ownership in the defendant's sole name. The Court preferred the defendant's account of the 1990 agreement, supported by contemporaneous documentation, a disinterested witness, the plaintiff's own diary entry and recorded admissions, and the deceased father's statutory declaration disclaiming any interest. On the subsidiary issue of whether the plaintiff and the deceased were in a de facto relationship at the time of his death (relevant only if a trust had been established), the Court held they were not, finding that while they lived under the same roof from 2005 to 2018, the absence of a sexual or romantic relationship, financial interdependence, and direct evidence of mutual commitment to a shared life meant they did not live together 'as a couple' within s 4(1) of the Property (Relationships) Act 1984 (NSW).
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