House purchase different deposit wife and I

pred02

Hi,

My wife and I were married in 2019 and we have one beautiful daughter together. We are in the process of purchasing a house where there is a disproportionate investment (deposit) coming from my side due to sale of my apartment to fund the deposit for the house. Also some of the money for the apartment has come from my family and it is likely down the line that there will be money passed down (inheritance) from my family that may apply towards paying off the house. 

In an unlikely scenario that we separate, I wanted to see if there is something that can protect the asset that were brought before the marriage or ones that were passed on family as inheritance. I understand many people setup deeds of trust, I am not sure how this works. 

Thank you

Spendless

I'm sure someone will be along that can advise you but I *think* that over time these will become an asset of the marriage in the event of a split. Eg should you divorce after 20/30 years of marriage then the starting point is 50/50 in a division of assets.

tightauldgit

From my understanding then some things can be regarded as premarital assets but once you sell them and mix them into the marital pot then that goes away. Similarly with inheritance I believe if you kept it separate and never comingled it with marital assets then it might be protected but once you use it to pay off the mortgage on the marital home its part of the pot. 

I would say maybe look into a post-nup agreement? They're not legally binding but might at least set out something that can be helpful. 

Of course the longer the marriage the harder it is to keep up the pretence of 'his assets' and 'her assets'.

_Penny_Dreadful

Why did you bother getting married? “With all my worldly goods I thee endow….well except for this, and that, and err….” 

Lavendyr

Talk to a solicitor to set up a deed of trust and buy your house as tenants in common.

Keep_pedalling

Your apartment is already a marital asset and would be included in any divorce settlement so it matters not if you own a separate apartment or if you sell it and sink the proceeds into your family home.

tightauldgit

Keep_pedalling said:

Your apartment is already a marital asset and would be included in any divorce settlement so it matters not if you own a separate apartment or if you sell it and sink the proceeds into your family home.

I don't think it would be. A premarital asset surely? 

TBagpuss

It is possible to have a post-nuptial agreement, which is like a pre-nup but signed after the marriage. As with a pre-nup, it is not legally enforceable but it forms part of the evidence court would look at, in the event of a divorce, to decide what was fair and reasonable in terms of the spilt of assets.

You can also have a declaration of trust that explicitly states that you own distinct and unequal shares of the the house. A court in a divorce wouldn't be bound by this but would take it into account when deciding what was fair, so it more likely to allow you to retain more of your contribution than if it didn't exist. 

As a general rule, any agreement of this kind will tend to carry less weight the longer you are married for, so if you were to divorce after 3 years, it would be likely that a court would attach more importance to it than if you divorced after 20 years, although you can if you wish regularly review and update any agreement to take account of changing situations. 
 
Sometimes, arrangements which offer some protection if you split up may make things more complicated if you don't, and then one of you dies, so you might want to talk to a solicitor about wills at the same time.