Ownership Sharing

[oskar270]

I don’t know if this subject is appropriate here but I will give it a try

I bought my house in 1998 for $140,000 and by the end of 2003 it was paid in full. Current municipal evaluation is $350,000 and I have put into the house on renovations approx. $100,000 (on materials only because as a retired contractor I did all the labor myself)

My wife, whom I married in August 2002, and I are both in our late 60’s and she has hinted that she would like to be a partner in the ownership of the house.

I want to be fair but how do I go about it? Like how much she has to pay me to make her an equal partner or what the alternatives are?



A good or bad idea?


Thank you

[CSAngel]

Perhaps I'm misreading here but if that is your matrimonial home then she's already an equal partner. You don't need to do anything.

[HammerDad]

If you're married, she is already entitled to half of the current value. There would not be a need to "sell" anything to her.

As far as I know, you can put her on title as your spouse without worry of land transfer tax etc. But even if you don't put her on title, you would still need her consent to sell the house as it is the matrimonial home.

[billm]

Originally Posted by HammerDad

If you're married, she is already entitled to half of the current value. There would not be a need to "sell" anything to her.

As far as I know, you can put her on title as your spouse without worry of land transfer tax etc. But even if you don't put her on title, you would still need her consent to sell the house as it is the matrimonial home.

BUT she feels she wants to buy into the value of the house, by paying you.

So I would do that - that way if you split, you will walk away with your investment into your house.

Not sure there is a way to do this as you can keep what you brought into the marriage (except the house - that gets split). So the only way for her to buy into the house would be if she had pre marital assets that she could turn into marital assets by giving them to you.

Of course if you split, you can split up the assets anyway you want if you don't involve the courts, but usually no one walks away from money.

[HammerDad]

I guess the questions to OP are:

1. Is she looking/willing to "buy" 1/2 the house from you? Meaning, she is willing to transfer you money in consideration for going on title? or

2. Is she just looking to go on title with you?

From your post, you said:

has hinted that she would like to be a partner in the ownership of the house

and that you want to know

how much she has to pay me to make her an equal partner or what the alternatives are

So it sounds like you want her to "buy" a portion or at least give you some consideration for going on title. Unfortunately, she doesn't have to pay anything if that is your intention. She is already a joint owner. If you and come to an agreement that she will pay you for 1/2, that is something you will have to work out with her.

[oskar270]

Thank you all for the info

Perhaps since I’m in Quebec the laws are different here but we had consulted a lawyer a few years back who said; since the marriage contract was signed before the marriage, the wife is entitled to half of what I paid into the mortgage from the day of marriage until the mortgage was paid off – in my case that is from Aug 2002 to the end of 2003 or approx. half of the 10K I paid. She is also entitled to half my car value which was paid off after the marriage but since there is a lot of depreciation on cars, this is a negligible asset. Also she is entitled to half of the cost of any renovations I did since the marriage.

We both want to be fair to each other and although we are asking around for a reasonable solution it seems to be a difficult subject. When we went to the lawyer the purpose was to find our rights out of curiosity and transferring of ownership was not in our mind. Perhaps now we may go and see him again although it is not a pressing matter