The Circuit Family Court has given a Dublin father seven months to buy out his former mother-in-law’s share of the family home after finding that the murder of the children’s mother fundamentally changed the circumstances in which an earlier sale order had been made.
Judge Jennifer O’Brien ruled that B.Q may purchase M.L’s one-third interest in the property for €345,000. The court affirmed the existing order for sale but stayed it for seven months to allow the transfer to take place.
The dispute arose from linked equity and divorce proceedings settled in November 2022. Under the agreed arrangements, the property was to be sold, with R.Q receiving two-thirds of the net proceeds and her mother, M.L, receiving one-third. Separate divorce terms provided for part of R.Q’s share to benefit B.Q and for another part to be held for R.Q during her lifetime and ultimately for the couple’s children.
R.Q was murdered by her then partner on 15 December 2022, five weeks after the settlement. No trust had yet been established and the property had not been sold. B.Q and the children later sought to remain in the home and proposed that M.L receive the market value of her share instead.
M.L argued that the consent order should be enforced and the property sold on the open market. The court rejected the proposition that it was powerless to adjust the mode of enforcement.
Judge O’Brien held that the earlier order remained executory and that the death of R.Q was a fundamental change of circumstances. The court found it would be unjust and inequitable not to take that change into account.
The court directed that M.L transfer her legal and beneficial interest to B.Q for €345,000, less any taxes due from her on the transfer. It also ordered that each child retain a right of residence until compensated for their respective one-sixth interests at then-current market rates. Costs remained to be addressed.