Dermot P. Nolan

The Estate of Joseph Zabukovec appealed a trial judge's decision granting Judith Tomek and Joseph Zabukovec Jr. joint beneficial ownership of 75% of a property based on unjust enrichment and proprietary estoppel.

The Estate argued the trial judge erred in valuing the land and failed to consider Joseph Sr.'s contributions to the house construction.

The Court of Appeal found an error in the land valuation but declined to interfere with the remedy, citing the broad discretion in crafting equitable remedies for proprietary estoppel.

The court affirmed the trial judge's order as consistent with the parties' original intention for the house and house lot to be conveyed.

The appeal was dismissed, and the Litigation Administrator, Edward Waters, was personally ordered to pay costs due to acting in his own interest.

The applicant Wife and respondent Husband, married in 1983 and separated in 2011, sought a beneficial interest in a 15-acre property owned by the Husband's late father (Joseph Sr.), who died intestate.

The Husband and Wife had built and continuously improved a house on the property, believing they would inherit it.

The court addressed claims of oral agreement, resulting trust, unjust enrichment, and proprietary estoppel against Joseph Sr.'s Estate.

The court found no oral agreement or resulting trust but established unjust enrichment and proprietary estoppel regarding the house, but not the entire acreage.

The claims were not statute-barred.

The court awarded the Husband and Wife a joint beneficial ownership of 75% of the property via a constructive trust, with the Estate retaining 25%, and granted the divorce.