Co-ownership and declarations of trust

Where a client owns or plans on owning a property jointly with someone else, there are a number of things that should be considered.

Perhaps a client and his or her partner have brought or intend to buy a property and they will be contributing to the purchase price (or the mortgage repayments or the cost of improvements to the property) in unequal proportions or maybe a client has bought or intends to buy a property with his or her child in order to help them onto the property ladder.

If so, they should carefully consider how they will own the property. There are two ways in which property can be owned jointly.

Joint tenants

If a property is held as joint tenants, both/all parties will own the whole of the property.  On the death of the first joint tenant, his or her share in the property will automatically pass to the surviving joint tenant regardless of the terms of the Will or intestacy of the deceased party.  This type of ownership is most common where spouses buy a property together.

Read the full article here.