Harris v Goddard
| Harris v Goddard | |
|---|---|
| Court | Court of Appeal |
| Citation(s) | [1983] 3 All ER 242, [1983] 1 WLR 1203 |
| Keywords | |
| Co-ownership, severance, joint tenancy | |
Harris v Goddard [1983] 3 All ER 242 is an English land law case, concerning co-ownership of land.
Facts
Mr Harris and Mrs Harris, joint tenants, fell out, she petitioned for divorce and asked under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, ‘That such order may be made by way of transfer of property and/or settlement in respect of the former matrimonial home… and otherwise as may be just’. Mr Harris was killed in an accident, before the divorce hearing. The issue was whether the petition had effectively severed the joint tenancy.
Judgment
Lawton LJ held that the petition was not effective to sever, because this was expressed so as to bring about the severance at some point in the future. His judgment continued.[1]
| “ | It follows that a desire to sever must evince an intention to bring about the wanted result immediately...
Paragraph 3 of the prayer in the petition does no more than invite the court to consider at some future time whether to exercise its jurisdiction under section 24 of the 1973 Act, or, if it does, to do so in one or more of three different ways. |
” |
Dillon LJ said the following.[2]
| “ | Severance is... the process of separating off the share of a joint tenant, so that the concurrent ownership will continue but the right of survivorship will no longer apply. The parties will have separate shares as tenants in common... | ” |