The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by O.B. against an order sanctioning the sale of the family home in her husband’s bankruptcy, leaving the High Court’s sale order in place.
The appeal concerned the High Court’s substantive order of 12 March 2018, made after a reserved judgment on 21 February. The Court of Appeal addressed that order; it did not determine the appellant’s separate proceedings seeking a declaration that she owned a 50% interest in the property. Those proceedings had not advanced beyond the issue of a plenary summons.
The property in Davidstown, Castledermot, County Kildare, was registered in the sole name of the bankrupt husband before his bankruptcy on 4 July 2016. It vested in the Official Assignee under the Bankruptcy Act. The appellant, who is not bankrupt and was not a borrower, lived there with their young children. A 2017 drive-by valuation put the property at €275,000. The Official Assignee sought court sanction to sell it for creditors.
The appellant argued that the Family Home Protection Act and her family’s circumstances should prevent the sale. The Court of Appeal said the Act does not itself give a non-owning spouse a beneficial interest, and its restriction on a spouse alienating the family home did not prevent a sale by the Official Assignee. It also rejected her challenge to the judgment mortgage and bankruptcy within this application, finding she lacked standing to raise those issues and that the Official Assignee’s title came from the bankruptcy legislation.
The court said the statutory process required the High Court to weigh creditors’ interests against those of the spouse and dependants, and allowed for postponement or conditions. The appellant’s residence and the likely effect of sale were relevant, but did not decide the outcome by themselves.
The court found that her evidence of renovation spending did not establish a beneficial interest: she had provided no supporting evidence of the amounts spent or their effect on the property’s value. Her separate claim remained incomplete. The court also noted that she had made no offer to buy the Official Assignee’s interest, despite an opportunity during the appeal to consider one; no progress was reported by mid-February 2020.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal on all grounds. It did not itself make a new sale order or determine the separate beneficial-interest proceedings.