shared ownership 80% / 20% with fiancee, how is it done legally

mystic_bertie

ill try and keep this short, me (bloke) and my fiancee (woman) are moving to a new build, my equity and earnings for mortgage will cover most of the house price. She has some equity and small mortgage on her dads house she cant afford to pay a great share of the new house.

i want to protect myself should things not work in the long run, i have been thru a divorce before and dont want to lose half of everything again, as my fiancee has around 50k equity on her dads home so she has that to fall back on, so i want to make sure should the worst happen further down the line i still have my equity and i will be able to afford to move on to a place of my own.

so how is this done, im guessing the share of ownership we want will be 80% mine and 20% my fiancee.

we live in scotland and im unsure if scottish laws are different to a matter like this. Also we will be getting married in the near future so how will this affect things ?

ps i dont want a lecture on the morals of what i am doing, thanks :A

torridon_2

It is scary second time round. Last year I was in a similar situation to yourself, however my OH was moving into my house and investing money in home improvements and taking a share of the house in return. I found it really quite hard to be giving up my hard won independence. I was also concerned about my children getting a just share of any inheritance in future. At the same time if I was making a commitment of marriage then that had to be done in good faith.

First thing to say is that you should really talk to a solicitor about the implications of what you want to do. I had a long chat with my solicitor and I found it very helpful and well worth the money, as it really clarified my thinking, and actually made me realise that my fears weren't being fair to my OH. After that we went back as a couple and made a joint decision about what was best for us.

The laws on property are different in Scotland, I went in talking about stuff I had read on internet forums only to find out it related to English law not Scottish law!

At the same time as altering the deeds on the house we both made new wills so that we both knew what would happen if one of us died. In our case giving each other "liferent" in the property so that we would both have security in the future.

Our solicitor made it clear that once we were married then whatever the nominal split in ownership it would be seen as a joint asset if our relationship was to break down in future, so I don't think in Scotland you can future protect yourself in the way you would perhaps like to, certainly not in the long term.

mystic_bertie

torridon

thanks for the reply, i had a feeling that it may mean if i marry it would become an asset and then subject to be split 50/50 in a break up. I dont have an issue with my fiancee getting a share of the house if i die but i also want to make sure my kids are ok too.

it putting the willies up me thinking that if i get married thats me signing away half my assets and pension :eek: nobody knows whats round the corner and i just want to know i can start again should the worst happen. I know its not a nice thing to arrange with my fiancee, whether its fair or not depends on your point of view but she still has her 50% share in her dads house which wont be a marrital asset.

ill maybe suggest putting the marraige off a few years :A