Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2011 | Page 30
property
Island Life - February/March 2011
LEGAL ISSUES
Interests
Arising Under
Co-Ownership
Photo: Mark & Terence Willey
Terence Willey & Company., Lawyers and Commissioners for Oaths (incorporating Malcolm
Daniells & Company and The Bembridge Law Practice) Contact Terence Willey 01983 875859
or Mark Willey 01983 611888. www.terencewilley.co.uk
When property is purchased in joint names
other than to the surviving Beneficial Joint
there are two distinct interests that arise
owner. In more recent years there has been
being legal and equitable. By definition:- one
an increased rate in the level of divorce
being in respect of legal ownership to the
and it has become far more common for
title of the property and the other being that
property to be purchased by individuals who
of financial entitlement.
are not married or who have been married
In my early days of conveyancing, now
before. Such difficulties were recognised
stretching back over forty years, lawyers
by the Court of Appeal recently when it
acting on a purchase for a husband and wife
was stated …'the purchase of residential
presumed that when
instructed to proceed
in joint names it was to
be under the definition
of what is known as
Beneficial Joint Tenants
effectively meaning
that upon the death of
either one, the legal and
equitable interest in the
property would pass to
the survivor absolutely.
The survivor would
take what is known as
a beneficial interest
in the entirety of the
property under the trust
for sale created by the
Conveyance, which in
most cases was entirely
appropriate. Such trust
for sale so incorporated
in the Conveyance would
override any provision in
a Will where there was
an intention to leave a
share in the property
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