- Farsley 0113 236 2333
- Horsforth 0113 258 6888
- Whitkirk 0113 264 3444
- Wibsey 01274 693600
- Idle 01274 616400
You arrived at this page by selecting:If you are separating and you are a joint homeowner then you should also think about 'severing' the ownership of your house.
A house owned in more than one name may be jointly owned, as opposed to in common, as lawyers say. The effect of this is that if one of the co-owners dies the house is automatically inherited by the other. This even overrides any will. The fact that the couple are separated divorced or otherwise cannot stand the sight of each other makes no difference at all.
In order to prevent this unfortunate consequence happening you have to, as lawyers call it, sever the equity in the property, and a good lawyer can help you with this.
Bear in mind this can be a two edged sword. In other words, if you sever because you don't want your spouse or former spouse to get your half of the house if you die, then you are also disqualifying yourself from receiving the other spouse's half of the house if they are the one to die.
