My father once cautioned me, “When it comes to doing business with family, blood isn’t always thicker than water.”

Often, because familial working relationships and agreements over real property lack a formal written contract governing their terms, upon the inevitable breakdown, the impending litigation is predicated on a panoply of non-breach of contract causes of action such as constructive trust and breach of fiduciary duty. At the root of such claims is the burden to establish the existence of a confidential or fiduciary relationship.