Did you know that even if you and your partner don’t live in your home, it’s still not safe from a relationship property claim? I have clients who move into their partner’s home believing that this will keep their own home safe from relationship property. What they don’t realise is that their partner can still bring a relationship property claim should the relationship end after 3 years.

When both you and your partner have a property that is capable of being the family home at the start your relationship but you only live in one of the properties, then after 3 years if relationship ends, only the house you lived in will be included in the relationship property pool. When this happens, a court can compensate the partner whose house is included as relationship property. They can also be compensated if their partner had sold their property and kept the net sale proceeds as their separate property.

In one case, each spouse had owned a home at the date of marriage. The wife’s home was sold and the proceeds with other borrowings were used to purchase another family home in the joint names of the parties. The husband kept his house separate. Here the wife was compensated for the disadvantage of selling her home while the husband had kept his.

Feel free to contact me, Hayley Boud on 021 077 7785 for a free 15 minute phone call.