Scrimgeour v Scrimgeour 1988 SLT 590
Citation: Scrimgeour v Scrimgeour 1988 SLT 590
Link to case on WorldLII (reference).
Rule of thumb: How is property to be valued as a matter of law? It is the average fair market value of the property which the Court must take to be the value.
Judgment:
This case introduced the ‘fair method of ascertaining the market price’ principle – this Court affirmed that a logical approach should always generally be taken to getting a decent market value for the assets, even if it is not always practical to obtain expert evidence over the sale, ‘the advantage of protecting the interest of the one who wants to keep the property while simultaneously protecting the financial interest of the other or others. It is in effect a closed auction among the co-owners supervised by the court... essential point is that the court in such an action would sanction something short of a sale in the open market and would sustain a fair method of ascertaining and obtaining the market price while allowing the property to remain in the hands of one of the pro indiviso owners to ... not fully acknowledge, as Lord Rutherfurd was careful to do (in Brock v Hamilton, 1852), that there may be a form of process for safeguarding the interests of the parties other than by public sale and division of the price in circumstances when a division which safeguards all interests is not reasonably practicable’, (was prepared to grant the pursuer’s amended motion for warrant to purchase her former husband’s one-half pro indiviso share in the matrimonial home, the price to be fixed at the open market value by a reporter appointed by the court), Lord McCluskey
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.