trust deed - anyone got one?....

tractorboy

I'm buying a house with my partner. We are putting down very different deposits. I hope everything goes well in the future between us - but how do I protect my initial investment so as to possibly avoid a messy court process in the future if things go wrong and she decides she wants to, er, kill me or something!!!? Isn;t this what a trust deed does? But what happens in the event of a breakup? How is the property 'shared' out?

Savvy_Sue

since no-one's answered, I'm going to suggest talking to a solicitor ... in a freebie half-hour session which most of them do initially. But talk to your partner too: if the response indicates that your life may in danger if you cause displeasure in future, now's a good time to know that.

May also be worth asking or looking in House Buying, Selling and Property Prices, http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=16 (and I'll work out another day how to make that look pretty ...)

Noozan

Have you thought about being tenants in common rather then joint tenants?

Tenants in common (which is what we have) means that you each own a designated percentage of the property. You could then each make a Will leaving your share of the property to whomever you choose. If you ever go your separate ways in the future, it will also mean that the other will have to buy out the party that's leaving, or sell up.

Joint tenants is where if one of you dies, the other automatically becomes the sole owner. This type of tenancy also makes it harder to sell up if one of wants out.

Savvy_Sue

Good thoughts from Noozan, and I did think after I'd posted last night that I should have said something about making a will as well!

Bossyboots

I'm not sure why there should be any difference in selling the property depending on how it is owned. In either case it requires the signature of both parties to sell. The relevant issue is what happens to the property when one party dies. If you go for tenants in common the trust deed should also include a life interest provision to prevent the beneficiaries of your partner's will from making life so difficult for you that you end up selling to get them off your back. The provision would need to be that the surviving partner should be able to live unhindered by beneficiaries.

It is best to get a solicitor to draw up the trust deed. I know a couple who split up a while ago and because their deed wasn't water tight, all the equity in the property went on solicitors costs to sort it out.

They argued over who had put the most in initially, who had paid most for the bills, things like that. If their deed had made a clear provision for return of the deposit to the party who had put it in that would have been one less point to argue about.

Keeping clear records of who pays what is a good idea. If everything is paid through bank accounts, there can be no dispute over what went where.