Can a court order that dependant support be secured against a specific asset like the family home?

Yes, generally. Under Part V of the SLRA, a court deciding a dependant support claim has broad discretion not only over how much support to award, but how that support is paid and secured. That can include charging or securing the award against a specific estate asset — the family home, an investment account, or other property — rather than leaving payment to depend on however the estate trustee otherwise administers the estate.

Whether a court actually does this is fact-specific. It depends on what the estate holds, the dependant's needs, and other beneficiaries' interests — a court is generally reluctant to force an unnecessary sale or disrupt a family business if support can reasonably be met another way, but it can still order security where that protects the dependant's ongoing entitlement. This is one of the more technical parts of a Part V claim, and a dependant with a specific asset in mind, or a beneficiary or estate trustee concerned that a property could be tied up, should get legal advice about how asset-specific orders work in practice.