Removing name from property deeds in divorce

stephanie_says

My husband and I are getting divorced, he is staying in the house and we want to remove my name from the deeds. There is no mortgage on the house. Am I right in thinking we just need to complete forms AP1 and ID3 for Land Registry?  Or do we need form TR1 as well?  We were hoping to do this ourselves rather than appoint a solicitor to save money. I understand this can take 4-6 weeks and that Land Registry are accepting proof of ID checks by doctors, teachers etc (rather than just solicitors) while their local offices are closed. Thank you for any advice!

RAS

Do you yet have your financial settlement agreed by the court?

No reason why you can't do the paperwork yourselves but it may be better to wait as any judge is going to ask why you are not receiving anything in exchange for giving up half an asset. 

Slithery

You will need TR1 as well as the ownership of the entire property is being transferred.

SDLT_Geek

stephanie_says said:

My husband and I are getting divorced, he is staying in the house and we want to remove my name from the deeds. There is no mortgage on the house. Am I right in thinking we just need to complete forms AP1 and ID3 for Land Registry?  Or do we need form TR1 as well?  We were hoping to do this ourselves rather than appoint a solicitor to save money. I understand this can take 4-6 weeks and that Land Registry are accepting proof of ID checks by doctors, teachers etc (rather than just solicitors) while their local offices are closed. Thank you for any advice!

It is important to understand what is meant by "remove my name from the deeds".  It could for example mean:

(a)  OP parting with all legal and beneficial ownership of the house, so only the husband owns it.

(b)  Having the house in the husband's sole name, but "on trust" so that part of the beneficial ownership remains with OP.

It is important that the parties are clear which it is.  

• For the first, if there are payments made by the husband to OP, or other assets passing to OP, then the husband needs to consider the stamp duty land tax implications and is likely to have to submit a land transaction return to HMRC and supply certificate SDLT5 to the Land Registry.
• The difference would be significant if OP is buying another property.  In the first scenario I would not expect the extra 3% SDLT to apply to OP's purchase, but in the second scenario the extra 3% would likely be due.

stephanie_says

Thank you for the replies!

I will be parting with all legal and beneficial ownership of the house so only my husband owns it. My understanding was that there is no stamp duty payable in that situation "Transfer of property in separation or divorce. If you’re divorcing or separating from your spouse or partner, there’s no Stamp Duty to pay if you transfer a proportion of your home’s value to them." 
I will be buying another property and hope that the 3% 'second home' SDLT won't apply because I'm giving up my main residence, although if the divorce hasn't been finalised before the sale completes I'm not sure...maybe I'd have to pay it but would be eligible for a refund when it went through. 

We have agreed the financial settlement between ourselves but have not yet had this agreed by the court.

Thanks for confirming we need form TR1 as well - that wasn't clear to me from the Land Registry or gov.uk websites.