unequal shares in property - hypothetical question

[bmachine]

Hypothetical question (I will be seeking formal legal advise on this)

Scenario: A property is purchased with a partner (unmarried) as tenants in common and I will have put in substantially more money (double his)- we will get this imbalance reflected in a deed of trust

If unmarried, in the event of a split I imagine I would get my share back and he his?

If we were to get married, then what? Does the deed of trust become irrelevant and 50/50 split of the asset is the standard?-is there any way to avoid this if so?

A prenup.

If you bought the house together, married then got divorced then the marriage would technically revoke the deed of trust, although it would certainly be taken into consideration by the court along with other factors such as length of marriage and financial contributions by both parties.

I would really urge you not to buy a house and provide double the deposit with someone you aren't sure you will marry. One suggestion would be to buy a cheaper house with equal deposit shares and keep your extra deposit to yourself at least until you know where you stand regarding getting married. Alternatively buy the house totally in your own name and let him buy into it if you get married.

I got a deed of trust after we got married and the court honoured it.

If you are still unmarried when you split the deed of trust will determine who gets what.

If you marry, a prenup would protect you. Whilst a prenup is not legally binding, the courts will generally follow the prenup provided it has been properly drawn up, there has been full financial disclosure, both sides have had independent legal advice and it is not clearly unfair in the circumstances.

If you bought the house together, married then got divorced then the marriage would technically revoke the deed of trust

A marriage does not revoke a deed of trust. It only revokes a will (unless made in contemplation of marriage).

The DofT will remain valid to determine your interests against each other and the rest of the world (useful if one of you is made bankrupt) but on divorce the court will take in to account the source of capital to varying degrees.

very helpful thank you all - looks like I need to look into a prenup

we are getting married in May

In addition, one idea we had was since I would have more equity in the home would be that I would pay proportionately less mortgage then him- is this another bad idea?-ie would that be used against me in court if it came down to it?

Just to be clear I love my guy (we have a child and have been together for years) I want to spend my life with him.... but I've spent enough time on the mumsnet relationships forum to know that with all the love and will in the world life the stats are that divorce rates are high.

I really don't think it works like that regarding paying the mortgage together. It would be massively difficult to untangle who paid what into the house, bills, building work, renovations etc over the life of a marriage. Your deed of trust and pre nup regarding the down payment inequity is enough and that is legally tied up. What you make as an arrangement between yourselves as a married couple would unlikely to be taken into account in the event of a divorce, although of course your prior agreement would.

I may be wrong, but I have heard of binding prenuptial agreements and deeds of trust being taken into account in divorce, but can't say I've ever read about a married couple agreeing an ongoing financial arrangement on how to pay the mortgage and bills that would be legally binding. Sounds good though!