Joint home ownership is important to protect your rights. You may be sharing a home with a spouse or registered civil partner, but don’t share ownership of the property. The home may be registered in your spouse or civil partners name only.
If your name is not on the property and your spouse or Civil Partner dies, this can make matters difficult for you. To clarify the point, here are two examples.
- Your spouse/civil partner dies without making a will: you will have to administer the estate and have the property transferred into your name. However, if you have children then your children will also own a share in the estate. Therefore, the law divides the estate into 2/3 to the spouse and the remaining third to the children.
- Your spouse/civil partner dies having made a will: they have left the property to you in their will. You will have to probate the estate and have the property transferred and registered in your name.
The Benefits of Joint Home Ownership
There are a range of positive reasons to ensure your home is in the names of both spouses/civil Partners. The home is automatically owned by the surviving civil partner or spouse if one partner/spouse dies. If you are the remaining joint owner, the property will pass directly to you as the remaining joint owner. So, there is no need to take out a grant of probate or administration on the property.
It also prevents any spouse or registered civil partner selling the property without the knowledge of the other joint owner. This is because both would have to sign the deed of transfer and contracts for sale with joint home ownership.
Where spouses inherit, taxes like Stamp Duty, Capital Acquisitions Tax (gift tax) or Capital Gains Tax do not apply. There are no fees due to the Property Registration Authority when spouses/civil partners transfer to joint home ownership.
How to Transfer Your Home to Joint Ownership
To register both parties as joint owners, your solicitor can draft up the transfer document. Both parties sign the deed of transfer and your solicitor will stamp the transfer document with revenue and registered the property with the Property Registration Authority. On completion, the solicitor will then forward you a copy of your folio, demonstrating the property registered in both names.
Remember if there is a mortgage on the property, then you will have to have the consent of the lending institution to transfer the property.
| For information or to book an appointment to discuss your property transfer, please call us on 0749164906 or email info@crawfordgallaghersolicitors.ie |
Useful Links:
Find out more here about widowed spouses/civil partners and tax.
Find out more here about our services for voluntary transfer of property into joint home ownership.