Married but separated with joint names on property deeds

workingboy

My daughter who been married for 20 years but separated for 10 years from her husband and both in early 50's.

They have a property with joint names on the deeds with no mortgage. He left for someone else but refused signing any divorce papers.

Although she could apply through the courts to dissolve her marriage, but is afraid of any aggression from him forcing her to leave selling the property.

She now pays all the utilities, council tax, insurance all in her name and the up keep of the property also has changed all the locks. Until recently he paid the utilities and council tax. But was found to be in arrears with the council tax of £1800 and a utility with threat bailiff collections without her knowledge. He is saying his share the property is his pension. She cannot afford to buy his share with a mortgage etc. 

Should she have a will with instructions of her share of the property be left to someone other than himself and could she nominate a Next of Kin of her choice.

Any advice please

xylophone

They have a property with joint names on the deeds with no mortgage. 

If they do not own as tenants-in-common she will need to sever the joint tenancy (this can be unilateral) - she can then leave her share of the property to anyone she wishes.

https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership/change-from-joint-tenants-to-tenants-in-common

However, while a Form A restriction will be registered, this is not really enough to protect the inheritance - she should discuss an additional restriction with her solicitor to enable her executor to have better control.

See https://www.land-registry-documents.co.uk/information/joint-ownership-tennants/ under "Death of a joint proprietor" to see why a Form A is not really enough.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-trusts-of-land/practice-guide-24-private-trusts-of-land

RAS

If he see this as his pension, she needs to face up now to the fact that he intends to force a sale when he reaches retirement age.

So she needs either to find a way to earn enough to buy him out or to make other provision for her accommodation. The longer she leaves it the worse it will get. When they divorce, all assets of the marriage are up for grabs; so she needs advice before building up a nice nest egg to buy him out; or he'll try and get half that as well. By the way, pensions are part of the pot as well as any other property he owns.

And with another 15 years employment ahead, she may be able to work her way out of this; if she leaves it longer, she'll have fewer options.

And has she considered that a lodger might help as the income is tax-free?

Are there any children?

swingaloo2

Why was he still paying council tax and utilities if he is not living at the property?

workingboy

swingaloo2 said:

Why was he still paying council tax and utilities if he is not living at the property?

Being amicable for what he had done leaving her for someone else.

AskAsk

workingboy said:

swingaloo2 said:

Why was he still paying council tax and utilities if he is not living at the property?

Being amicable for what he had done leaving her for someone else.

sounds extremely generous to me.

if she dies and they are still married then he will inherit the property unless there is a will in place to say otherwise.  she can draft a will to leave her share of the property to someone else but i think the spouse can contest this at court if nothing is left to them.  if however, they have been separated and she can prove they have been, which she may not be able to if he is still paying all the bills at the property, then i guess the court would not consider the contest, or at least, there is a good reason for the court to see why she has left her share to someone else.

it may be adviseable to get advice from a family solicitor.

Sea_Shell

She needs to get this sorted, as things have a habit of drifting along, and before you know it, 30 years have passed and you're no further forward.

What's her plan?.  What does she want to happen, in either the short or longer term?

swingaloo2

This needs to be sorted as soon as possible. If she is not going to be in a position to buy him out then why not sell and get the divorce sorted. I had mis-read the post and missed the bit about arrears when I asked why he was paying council tax. There is nothing amicable if he was getting to the stage where bailiffs were involved. If she is living in the house alone then she should be getting the single person discount for council tax so how come she didnt have bills coming to the property in her name? 
Why is he hesitant to divorce?  This could all get very messy, you say she has changed the locks but he has a right to enter the house if he wishes.
Another thing to consider if it gets messy is that he could charge her rent on his half of the property.
 Where does he live? If he has another house  where he is now living then that too is a marital asset. 
What is she planning to do about the house if she cant buy him out? If he wants it for his pension then the longer she sits on it the more it is going to cost to buy him out in another 15 years.

Keep_pedalling

And as to the will, it should be an absolute priority unless she wants him to inherit everything she has if she dies intestate. She should see a solicitor ASAP for both sorting a will and getting a divorce underway. A divorce court would seem to be the best way of sorting out the house issue. 

Gavin83

I agree with some of the previous questions, what does she want from this? It almost sounds like she just wants to remain in the house and for him to walk away but she must surely realise that likely isn’t realistic.

They need to get the divorce and the financial split sorted ASAP. If that means selling the house then that’s what will need to be done.