Living in your partner's property during your divorce

If you live in a property that is held in your spouse’s sole name, it can be concerning when a decision to separate or divorce is made. You may worry that your spouse will try to sell the property without your knowledge or they may try to transfer it to a family member or associate, to defeat your financial claims.

In order to stop this, you can register a Home Rights notice at HM land Registry, which will remain on the title of the property until it is discharged in the future (after the final Order in your divorce has been granted).

Generally, the final Order in divorce known as Decree Absolute is applied for after a final financial order has been granted.

It is worth noting that in order for a Home Rights notice to be successfully registered, your spouse must be the sole beneficiary of the property. i.e. If your spouse owns the property with another family member or third party this can create complications and you may need to establish that it was intended that your spouse was due to receive the entire interest in the property.

You can apply for a Home Rights notice by using Form HR1, and you can find out the title number of the property by carrying out a search of the title at HM Land Registry.

The following link is useful: www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

Finally, if your spouse tries to make you leave the property against your wishes or changes the locks to purposely exclude you, this is not correct and must be addressed. There are a number of options available.

If you require advice and assistance in this area please do not hesitate to contact me.

@ef_familylawyer

01843 310 277

05.03.2021