Whose house is it anyway?

WX v HX [2021] EWHC 241 (Fam) concerned financial remedy proceedings to which the parties were the wife, the husband, and their two daughters (“the daughters”). The daughters were joined as intervenors as a result of their status as beneficiaries of family trusts which had been the vehicle for much of the wealth generated during the long marriage of some 33 years. The proceedings raised a number of interesting issues in relation to the computation of matrimonial assets but the feature of the case on which this article will focus is the treatment of the offshore trust which was established to hold one of the family homes.