Proprietary estoppel after Guest—a family business (Winter and another v Philip Winter)

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications of this case?
• What was the background?
• What did the court decide?
• Case details

Article summary

Private Client analysis: The court upheld a claim to shares in a family business by operation of proprietary estoppel. This is one of the first cases to consider proprietary estoppel following the Supreme Court’s decision in Guest v Guest. The court also considered what assurances might give rise to proprietary estoppel in the context of family-run businesses. Where parents make informal assurances to their children in order to encourage them to work in the family business, then such informal assurances may well form the basis for a proprietary estoppel. Written by Christopher Snell, barrister at New Square Chambers.