How to protect your land from divorce settlements?

anne14marie

Hi,
My brother is getting married in April to an English girl and they intend moving back to Ireland. He has land with sites. She hates living in Ireland so I think she won't be happy and I fear they would end up getting separated or divorced. How could my brother legally protect his land from a divorce settlement? I realise pre-nupital agreements are not legally binding so what else could one do?

Any ideas welcome. Thanks

seamus

If he's afraid of getting divorced, why is he getting married at all?

Has he actually asked you this question or have his family decided that this is something that needs to be done?

Aside from transferring the land into someone else's name, there's not a whole lot he can do. Transferring the land will incur CGT and will give that other person complete ownership over the land.

In general, assets owned before the marriage takes place are "protected" if the marriage turns sour and the courts decide that there is no requirement for one party to pay maintenance to the other.

If both parties are working and self-sufficient at the time of the divorce and there are no children involved, it can be a clean break and only assets acquired during the marriage are split.

NinjaTruncs

anne14marie wrote: »

Hi,
My brother is getting married in April to an English girl and they intend moving back to Ireland. He has land with sites. She hates living in Ireland so I think she won't be happy and I fear they would end up getting separated or divorced. How could my brother legally protect his land from a divorce settlement? I realise pre-nupital agreements are not legally binding so what else could one do?

Any ideas welcome. Thanks

Is that still the case, i know it was when divorces were not allowed in Ireland but now that they are surely pre-nups should be allowed also.

seamus

NinjaTruncs wrote: »

Is that still the case, i know it was when divorces were not allowed in Ireland but now that they are surely pre-nups should be allowed also.

Pre-nups in Ireland are contracts subject to contract law.

So while you can get one made up and it can be used as evidence in divorce proceedings, the contents of the pre-nup cannot override any statutory rights enshrined in law and the judge can choose to declare all or part of a pre-nup to be unfair/unreasonable and ignore it.

anne14marie

Thanks Seamus,
Could a trust be formed?
Could another family member e.g. other brother be transferred the land on the proviso he would hand it back, some sort of 'living interest' transfer?
Thanks.

partyguinness

Perhaps you should let your brother worry about his own life and marriage.

Starting threads like this and getting ideas in your head is hardly the most constructive behaviour prior to your brothers big day.

Are you worried about him or your own possible inheritance?

The Personal Issues forum is that way

---

>

And "No" there is no way to protect your brothers lands. Irish divorce law is open ended and a spouse can return several times for provision.

seamus

anne14marie wrote: »

Could a trust be formed?
Could another family member e.g. other brother be transferred the land on the proviso he would hand it back, some sort of 'living interest' transfer?

Any kind of instrument which provides your brother with an interest in something automatically becomes his wife's interest when they get married, which gives her legal access to that interest in the event of a divorce.

The only way to prevent her from having access to his assets is to completely remove his interest in those assets.

People can and have successfully hidden assets from their partners, but they are only secure by way of secrecy - the spouse has certain legal entitlements to the assets, regardless of who's name they're in.

As partyguiness says, I would recommend that you let your brother make his own mistakes, and if it all goes wrong, that's his problem, not yours. On the other hand, when it all goes right, you'll feel terrible for doubting it in the first place.

kmick

If he gets married then he is scuppered. Pre-nups do not hold any water in Ireland.

RedB

seamus wrote: »

In general, assets owned before the marriage takes place are "protected" if the marriage turns sour and the courts decide that there is no requirement for one party to pay maintenance to the other.

If both parties are working and self-sufficient at the time of the divorce and there are no children involved, it can be a clean break and only assets acquired during the marriage are split.

Sorry for taking this thread in another direction but are assets owned before the marriage including the family home always "protected"?

If a divorced lady with 2 kids and a family home remarrys, does the new husband have any rights to the family home in the event of divorce?

If the new husband is not working or self-sufficient at that time would he not be entitled to a share of the family home if he had contibuted to the mortgage or living expenses during the marriage?

Would the lady have to compensate him for such contributions and could she end up having to sell the home to pay that compensation?

Robbo

RedB wrote: »

If the new husband is not working or self-sufficient at that time would he not be entitled to a share of the family home if he had contibuted to the mortgage or living expenses during the marriage?

Yes, he may be entitled to an equitable share proportionate to the amount of his contributions, as per McC -v- McC.