I'm buying a house with DP and we need to agree a declaration of trust.
Posting unashamedly for traffic and because I want robust opinions, as DP's attitude is that they trust me to do what's fair and they don't want to talk about it!
I'm putting in all the initial outlay (equity and costs) and will be paying more of the mortgage, in proportion to our incomes. We are going to pay all other expenses in proportion to our incomes and I'm suggesting that any savings we put away out of our monthly incomes will be treated as joint (50:50), but any work bonuses and any savings out of money allocated for personal spending would be treated as personal savings.
So the split I'm proposing is (a) my initial outlay is ringfenced and I get that back first (b) we each get back the amount we've paid off the mortgage (c) if we've made any substantial improvements to the property then we are repaid a % of their cost and finally (d) so long as DP has paid their share of the mortgage, any remaining profit is split 50:50.
Obviously if we split up soon after buying or if the property hasn't increased in value DP will get very little, if anything, but they dont own a property at the moment and they are being subsidised by me day to day, so I don't think that's particularly unfair.
However, if the value of the property does increase significantly they will get 50% of that increase despite having contributed a much smaller amount. This would also carry through into the joint savings, as I'll contribute most of the money but we'll share them equally.
I know I'm going to be clobbered for making this post gender neutral but in this case it shouldn't be relevant. We hope to have a child together in future but we will both still work full time and DPs earning potential won't be affected.
So AIBU? DP won't engage as they don't like to talk about us splitting up!