Real property

Section 14 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 conferred power on the court to direct a partition, even without the beneficiaries’ consent, and with or without payment of equality money. Where the parties were already co-owners of land which they had intended at the outset should eventually be divided between them, then partition was the direct and natural means of achieving that objective, with recourse to the court if the beneficiaries would not all consent.