Marital Home

From WeDoMarriage.org - World's First Couple Marriage Contract Wiki

Buying and owning a home together is probably a priority for every couple considering marriage. Sharing a home with your spouse is one of the most important issues to think about. Ideally, your legal position should be clear from the beginning. The implications for not protecting your rights could critically affect your circumstances in the future. You could become homeless.

If you are planning on buying a property together, you need to decide how you are going to own the property, agree on it, and make this clear in your Marriage Contract.

Sole ownership and joint ownership

A home in which a couple live may be owned in two ways:

• Sole ownership: Both live in the home, but only one has their name on the title to the property.
• Joint ownership: Both spouses live in the home, and both have their name on the title to the property.

Two types of joint ownership

There are two types of joint ownership of a home:

• Joint tenancy: The couple together own the whole home, but neither has a distinct, individual share in it.
• Tenancy-in-common: Each member of the couple owns a distinct share of the home. The relative shares might be 50%-50%, 60%-40% or whatever.

Tenancy-in-common enables a couple to decide how their ownership is shared. For example, if one has contributed more to purchasing the home, the couple's relative shares might start at 70%-30%. The couple could agree that, over time, their shares would equalise at a 50%-50%.

Also under tenancy-in-common, if the home is sold, each owner is entitled to his or her percentage of the sale proceeds. If they die, their share of the home forms part of their estate. It does not automatically pass to the other owner.