LEGAL EAGLE: Ownership of a property when couples split up

The legal issues when a couple split-up if home is jointly owned.

Me and my partner split up five years ago. We are not married and I am still living in the home that we bought together 15 years ago. When we bought the home, we decided to own the property jointly. My ex-partner left the home when we split up and I continued to pay all the household expenses and I paid off the mortgage myself. I now want to sell the home, but I am worried how much of the sale I will get even though my ex-partner has not contributed to the property for the past 5 years. My ex-partner also wants more contact with our 8-year old son, but I want to keep things the way they are.

Your Home – The starting point in your case is that you and your ex-partner share the property equally. It was your common intention at the start that you would have a 50% share each.

However, you may be entitled to a larger share of the property because your common intention has changed.

There is a significant case called Jones v Kernott [2011], where Ms Jones was successful in her claim that she had a 90% beneficial share of the property, even though they bought the property together and held it jointly. This is because Ms Jones remained in the property for 14 years after Mr Kernott left the property, she paid all the household expenses, and Mr Kernott paid nothing over those 14 years until the property was put up for sale. Their common intention as to what share of the property they owned changed.

Therefore, you may be entitled to more than a 50% share of your home because you have continued to live in the home, paid towards the expenses and mortgage, and your ex-partner has not paid anything towards it since.

Please contact us on 0191 565 3112 for advice on your entitlement to your home. We will need to discuss any other factors that may affect your entitlement to the home.

Contact with your son – All parents with parental responsibility have a legal right to contact with their children. As a parent you also have a duty to safeguard your children and so you should not allow contact if you believe your children are at risk in the other parents’ care.

If your ex-partner wants more contact than he is currently having, it is up to him/her to apply to the Court for a Child Arrangements Order for more contact.

If you are worried that your ex-partner would remove your son from your care, you can apply for a Prohibited Steps Order to prevent this from happening.

As stated above, please call us on 0191 565 3112 and we would be happy to assist. You can also email us at [email protected]. Visit www.benhoarebell.co.uk for further information.