Marriage & Property

yourpics

This has probably been asked here before but it is very hard to get a definitive answer!

If I own my own house, in my own name, and I get married does my new spouse have any legal entitlement or claim to my house?

This is a hypothetical situation in the case of a divorce and no children involved.

Milly33

I don't think so, not too sure now. But I know himself has a house with auld one and well it has nothing to do with me...

stargazer 68

This is from Citizens Advice re cohabiting couples - would assume it applies to married too:

However, if your relationship breaks down and your name is not on the title deeds to the house, you may still be able to show that you have some ownership rights in relation to the house. These rights are based on the fact that you made a contribution to the purchase price of the house with the intention of gaining a share in the ownership of the house.

Contributions to the purchase price of the house can be direct or indirect. Direct contributions include contributions to the initial down payment for the house or contributions to the mortgage installments. Indirect contributions may include paying some of the other day-to-day household expenses or unpaid work in the legal owner of the house's business. It has been held by the courts that working in the home looking after children and money spent or work done on home improvements are not contributions that give you any right of ownership in relation to the house.

stickybookmark

Yes of course they will. When you get married they automatically have a claim on your property.

If you die intestate they will inherit 100% of your estate (if no kids.
If you leave a will cutting them out they will be entitled to take it to court and claim their rightful portion.

If you divorce they will be entitled to a share of your property, it all depends on the divorce settlement in court

stickybookmark

Milly33 wrote: »

I don't think so, not too sure now. But I know himself has a house with auld one and well it has nothing to do with me...

It does now !!

Addle

It depends on if it's your family home or not. Are ye living in it?
It's something you should get proper legal advice in tbh.

yourpics

Thanks for the replies so far, very helpful!

Milly33

I don't think it is that straight forward Sticky, like about from the Citizens advice I think, lets say if ye purchased the house together then fine yes, or like that if they moved into the house and he was half paying towards it or the upkeep. But if lets say like this it is a property purchased lets say by Kim before getting married and she keeps it separate then I think it is just hers. Now of course lets say Frank could if he decided to be a dick contest this but it would involve the courts.

And yep I know from this with the house it doesn't have anything to do with me. My name is not on the deeds or part of the mortgage nothing.

Toots

If you own a house, and you are cohabiting in it with someone for over 2 years, they have entitlement to the property whether or not your are married.

stickybookmark

Toots wrote: »

If you own a house, and you are cohabiting in it with someone for over 2 years, they have entitlement to the property whether or not your are married.

2 years if ye have kids.

5 years if ye don't.

fits

Its not black and white at all. If you own a house (from before your relationship) but rent a different house with your new wife and she works full time, and you don't have children well then she probably wouldn't have any claim on it.

However if she has children and takes time off to look after them, then both her and the children will have a claim as her contribution to the household and lost income/pension will be taken into account.

Milly33

All situations are different as Fits has pointed out.. It all depends really, as mentioned I know I have like nothing to do with himself house at all. Never lived there, never purchased anything for it, never paid rent etc have nothing to do with the place and if anything does happen to it.. Its back to herself it goes too tis nothing to do with me...

stickybookmark

The OP asked about a divorce situation.
Divorces by their nature are messy and complicated. Often there is bad blood and bitterness there and as far as I know both assets of both parties will all be put on the table and be taken into account in the divorce settlement.

So if one party owns a house or half a house, that's one of their assets and therefore will be put on the table and considered in the divorce settlement along with everything else.

stickybookmark

Milly33 wrote: »

All situations are different as Fits has pointed out.. It all depends really, as mentioned I know I have like nothing to do with himself house at all. Never lived there, never purchased anything for it, never paid rent etc have nothing to do with the place and if anything does happen to it.. Its back to herself it goes too tis nothing to do with me...

If god forbid your husband died, as his wife you'd be entitled to his half of that house. You'd probably have to take his ex to court to get it, but you would be entitled to it

pwurple

Milly33 wrote: »

All situations are different as Fits has pointed out.. It all depends really, as mentioned I know I have like nothing to do with himself house at all. Never lived there, never purchased anything for it, never paid rent etc have nothing to do with the place and if anything does happen to it.. Its back to herself it goes too tis nothing to do with me...

Milly, make sure your husband and you have a clear will in place.

Marriage joins assets. You equally own anything of the other person.

stargazer 68

stickybookmark wrote: »

If god forbid your husband died, as his wife you'd be entitled to his half of that house. You'd probably have to take his ex to court to get it, but you would be entitled to it

I would have thought that would depend on the divorce settlement (assuming he was married). My fiance has 2 houses with his ex. One is being sold and splitting the proceeds, the other has been given to her on conditions that she does not have any entitlement to other stuff he has. All agreed and sorted by the Court.

stickybookmark

Dovies wrote: »

I would have thought that would depend on the divorce settlement (assuming he was married). My fiance has 2 houses with his ex. One is being sold and splitting the proceeds, the other has been given to her on conditions that she does not have any entitlement to other stuff he has. All agreed and sorted by the Court.

I assumed Milly's husband wasn't married before and just jointly owned a house with his ex girlfriend.

I was referring to a jointly owned house where the 2 weren't married and then they break up and one of them marries someone else and then dies

Milly33

Tis all about the person me thinks. I want nothing to do with the house no matter how much or little tis worth. So getting a will put in place and stuff like taking to court I would not be that type of person...

Was only just talking of wills the other day and we must do one, but only because I want my car to be looked after haha

Milly33

Oh no he wasn't married before

stickybookmark

Milly33 wrote: »

Tis all about the person me thinks. I want nothing to do with the house no matter how much or little tis worth. So getting a will put in place and stuff like taking to court I would not be that type of person...

Fair play to you for not being that kind of person.

It depends on the circumstances, every situation is different.
If say - your husband died and his life assurance/mortgage protection policy paid off the outstanding mortgage on that jointly owned house, which overnight then goes from being a debt to an asset, possibly worth 100k+ (I mean half the value of the fully paid off house) and you're facing a situation where that asset of let's say 100k, is passing automatically to your husband's ex girlfriend instead of to you, and if you had dependant kids (or even if not) you might think differently. Especially if your husband had contributed his fair share to that mortgage over the years

However take another scenario - no life assurance - mortgage does not get paid off - house is worth minus 100k, well then obviously there's nothing to go after. Or even if house was paid off by life assurance but your husband hadn't contributed to that house in the last 10 years, you might feel it was fair enough to let the ex gf ''inherit'' all the value of it

fits

pwurple wrote: »

Milly, make sure your husband and you have a clear will in place.

Marriage joins assets. You equally own anything of the other person.

I agree that it is important to get a will in place in this instance as on his death his assets would be transferred to milly.

I disagree that marriage joins assets though. Why do you think all those bankrupt developers were transferring assets into their wives' names?

Its amazing how fuzzy we all are on this in this forum.. Should be better informed!

Milly33

Its fine I suppose if you have assets but to be honest we don't. Like that he has the house which in my situation I would want nothing to do with it in any situation and my car that's it..Nice and simple..

You think though that yes couples would be informed more after they getting married about their rights as a couple of as lets say married people...

Even the Tax form said I would get that and it tells you nothing, not how to fill it out what you apply to where very silly...

oky

It’s obvious that you are not the only one out there with limited understanding of how marriage impacts on property ownership as it appears to be something that a lot of people (myself included!) have a real lack of knowledge on.

I actually own a house with my ex that he is currently living in with his new girlfriend. We bought it over 8 years ago and split up shortly afterwards if that helps put things in context. Of course it was bought at the height of the boom and just now is looking like it might come out of negative equity in the next couple of years as we pay down the mortgage. Ideally we will sell it as soon as that happens. However what would happen if he gets married, would the new girlfriend be entitled to part of his share of the house seeing as she has being paying “rent” towards it for the past year?

Likewise if something was to happen to me would my new husband be entitled to any part of my share of the house or would it all go to my ex-boyfriend? The house was bought as joint ownership with the expectation that we would have lived there together for a long time- which obviously did not turn out to be the case! I imagine that if anything happens to either of us neither spouse (future spouse in his case) or any potential future children would benefit so it makes sense to sell the house as soon as it comes out of negative equity.

stickybookmark

oky wrote: »

It’s obvious that you are not the only one out there with limited understanding of how marriage impacts on property ownership as it appears to be something that a lot of people (myself included!) have a real lack of knowledge on.

I actually own a house with my ex that he is currently living in with his new girlfriend. We bought it over 8 years ago and split up shortly afterwards if that helps put things in context. Of course it was bought at the height of the boom and just now is looking like it might come out of negative equity in the next couple of years as we pay down the mortgage. Ideally we will sell it as soon as that happens. However what would happen if he gets married, would the new girlfriend be entitled to part of his share of the house seeing as she has being paying “rent” towards it for the past year?

Likewise if something was to happen to me would my new husband be entitled to any part of my share of the house or would it all go to my ex-boyfriend? The house was bought as joint ownership with the expectation that we would have lived there together for a long time- which obviously did not turn out to be the case! I imagine that if anything happens to either of us neither spouse (future spouse in his case) or any potential future children would benefit so it makes sense to sell the house as soon as it comes out of negative equity.

You need to find out if it's a joint tenancy or a tenancy-in-common. If it's a joint tenancy then on the death of either of you the house passes 100% to the other person (regardless of will). If it's a tenancy-in-common then on the death of either you 50% of the house will pass into your estate.

Do ye have a mortgage protection/life assurance policy on it so that if either of you dies the mortgage will be fully paid off? This was a condition by the banks when taking out a mortgage. So what happened to this Insurance policy after ye broke up, did he keep paying it, did you?

If you sell the house once it's back in equity and before the next property crash then the sale of the house will clear the mortgage & legal fees and there might be a small profit, which you can argue about with your ex - who paid most of the deposit, who has contributed more to the mortgage over the years etc.

yourpics

yourpics wrote: »

This has probably been asked here before but it is very hard to get a definitive answer!

If I own my own house, in my own name, and I get married does my new spouse have any legal entitlement or claim to my house?

This is a hypothetical situation in the case of a divorce and no children involved.

Depending on your circumstances - she might already have a claim.

oky

stickybookmark wrote: »

You need to find out if it's a joint tenancy or a tenancy-in-common. If it's a joint tenancy then on the death of either of you the house passes 100% to the other person (regardless of will). If it's a tenancy-in-common then on the death of either you 50% of the house will pass into your estate.

Do ye have a mortgage protection/life assurance policy on it so that if either of you dies the mortgage will be fully paid off? This was a condition by the banks when taking out a mortgage. So what happened to this Insurance policy after ye broke up, did he keep paying it, did you?

If you sell the house once it's back in equity and before the next property crash then the sale of the house will clear the mortgage & legal fees and there might be a small profit, which you can argue about with your ex - who paid most of the deposit, who has contributed more to the mortgage over the years etc.

Thanks Stickybookmark, looks as though I have nothing to worry about really. I was just concerned whether marriage for them change things. We still have mortgage protection so in the event that something happens to me or him, then it will all be paid off. It will be a priority of mine to get it sold as soon as it comes back in to positive equity.

Otherwise if something happens to him or me, then the ex partner will get the house. It'll probably be a bit unfair on the new girlfriend as she has been paying "rent" towards the mortgage and will in that case be effectively homeless. However I can use that to help convince him to sell it as soon as the value rises above the outstanding mortgage payments.

stickybookmark

oky wrote: »

Thanks Stickybookmark, looks as though I have nothing to worry about really. I was just concerned whether marriage for them change things. We still have mortgage protection so in the event that something happens to me or him, then it will all be paid off. It will be a priority of mine to get it sold as soon as it comes back in to positive equity.

Otherwise if something happens to him or me, then the ex partner will get the house. It'll probably be a bit unfair on the new girlfriend as she has been paying "rent" towards the mortgage and will in that case be effectively homeless. However I can use that to help convince him to sell it as soon as the value rises above the outstanding mortgage payments.

I like your thinking oky. You have your head screwed on!

To be honest it is probably a tenancy-in-common that ye have; seems to have been the default for joint celtic tiger mortgages.

So yep, if he died the mortgage will be paid off, will pass 100% to you and even if they were married, she would have a legal battle on her hands to be entitled to a penny of it.

She's in a very vulnerable position and you should definitely use that to persuade him to sell this house as soon as it becomes financially viable to do so. With the way things are going hopefully that won't be too far off into the future.