Best way to make my wife joint owner, advice please.

happyhero

Hi we bought our house back in the 1990's and will soon hope to pay off the mortgage. when we bought it we were just partners, now we are married. At the time it proved easier to buy the place as a single person with a reasonable job rather than include my partner and her 2 young kids from a previous marriage as it was felt that they would look like a drain on my finances, since she was not working etc. Anyway we got married in 2000 and are still living in the same house happily with 2 more young children.

It has always been my intention to put my wife's name on the house and I thought a good time would be once the mortgage is paid off so that we don't need to pay any additional insurance policies and possibly it will be simpler with no mortgages involved. I am no expert on this so I may get bits wrong but I seemed to have to take out a policy when I took the mortgage, presumably to pay the mortgage if anything happened to me. So I assume if I put my wife on now we would need one for her too?

So what are the implications should I get her on before the mortgage ends or should I wait, it will end in 3 years and we are both 52?

Also by putting her name on is that like giving her half the worth, ie will this become a major financial transfer and involve some kind of tax?
So if so is there a method to do this to avoid any tax bills?

I'm thinking that although we genuinely just want to have both our names on the house, that people must fiddle this and so it may be perceived as me trying to make out I have less money in the property than I actually do, by shifting half to her.

Also how do you make your wife joint owner, is it a costly legal process with solicitors, and same question what if I do it during the mortgage stage?

Any help/advice appreciated.

monty-doggy

I might be wrong here, but my understanding is that unless you had a pre nup, then everything becomes joint and several in marriage anyway.

If this is the case I wouldn't waste my money changing it.

The only other thing that could prevent it being half hers is if upon your death, you have a will bequeathing it to someone else.

kingstreet

Do it after the mortgage ends. If you do it now, you'll need lender approval and a solicitor to act for the lender, cost £400 to £600.

After repayment of the mortgage, the job can be done by you and a couple of land registry forms and a small fee.

If you want the property to pass to the survivor on the death of either of you, transfer it to joint ownership, joint tenancy.

If you would want your share to pass to someone else via your will, perhaps for inheritance tax or care fee planning, joint ownership, tenancy in common would be the better option.

StuC75

Possible Stamp Duty Implications too with any transfer.

happyhero

Cheers guys so it looks like it is best to wait until after the mortgage finishes.

Am I right in thinking that currently if I died the mortgage would get paid off but nothing would happen if something happened to my wife, i.e. I would have to carry on paying?

What I am getting at is, is it is a weakness for me my wife not being on the mortgage?

[Deleted User]

happyhero wrote: »

What I am getting at is, is it is a weakness for me my wife not being on the mortgage?

If the mortgage payments are dependant on your wife then yes, you are in a weakened position however as there are only 3 years remaining it's not financially prudent to pay the costs for adding her to the mortgage.

Private life insurance is available, assuming your wife works you shouldn't have a problem finding a policy that covers much more than the remainder of the mortgage and will cost you less than the fees associated with adding your wife to the mortgage because you will have to take out life insurance on top of the fees if she joined the mortgage.

Land_Registry

Our online guidance explains how you can transfer (gift) the property to both you and your wife.

As others have mentioned to do it whilst the mortgage is in place will require the lender's consent and as such they will require you to use a solicitor/conveyancer.

The joint ownership aspect referred to by kingstreet is referred to in our Public Guide 18 although we would always recommend seeking legal/financial advice to understand the possible implications attached to each option.

Others are better placed to comment on the issues around what heppens should either or you die.

xylophone

You have made a will?

And I would certainly take out a policy on your wife's life.