Professor Sukhninder Panesar ponders the legal enforceability of electronic communications between separating couples
- Covers the recent family law case of Reid Roberts v Mei Lin, concerning the legal effect of intentions expressed through WhatsApp and email.
In an age of digital communication and messaging, it is common for individuals to communicate with each other using platforms such as email, WhatsApp and Messenger. Most daily communications between people are through digital messages. Whether such messages amount to a formal expression of intention or indeed hold any legal significance is another matter.
In this context, it was only going to be a matter of time before the English courts would have to decide upon the question of the enforceability and effect of a WhatsApp message on an agreement to transfer an interest in property. That opportunity to decide arose in a recent High Court decision before Mr Justice Cawson in Reid-Roberts v Mei Lin [2026] EWHC 49 (Ch).
The case involved a separation between
