Marriage and real estate investments

Abiodun Doherty

The institution of marriage is a highly esteemed one and the subject of love, trust and co-operation is at its root. Couples are ideally, to be one mind and should plan their future together for mutual benefit. Trusting each other enough to pull resources together and invest together are clear indications of couples that are on the right track. This is a wise path and those who tread it should do so with understanding.

I don’t know whether this case is true or not. But some years ago someone sent me a scenario for my opinion. There was a couple who had no children and the wife was far better economically. She and her husband agreed to start investing their extra income in real estate. They also agreed to buy all their properties in the name of their yet-to-be born child which the husband suggested. They both believed that this was a step of faith. After several years of investing and several properties purchased they still had no child. Then the husband died suddenly. After the period of mourning, the woman was summoned to a family meeting by her in-laws and confronted with the fact that the husband had another wife outside of wedlock and the name of the first child of the woman for her late husband was the name he had suggested and they had used on all their property documents. The question was who owns the properties?

Unfortunately, I cannot tell you how this story ended and I do not intend to analyse the issues raised by this scenario. However, for the sake of several investors, I do intend to use this as a springboard to our discussion and should you require more legal analysis, you will need to contact your personal or family lawyer for that.

Sometimes individuals enter into marriage with both or either of them already having bought properties in their names or the name(s) of their companies. This often presents little or no problem in many part of the world. But even in jurisdictions where the legal system is overly protective of women and some have used it to reap where they have not sown. The solution is a pre-marital agreement that clearly differentiates between properties owned by a person before marriage and which stays with the owner in the event of a divorce. This may become the norm if our legal systems begin to go in that direction.

However, the common trend is for couples to buy properties jointly in their names. This is good but should be done within clear parameters. For instance, a property bought in the name of “Mr. and Mrs. XYZ” has an ambiguous “Mrs.”. Anyone could be “Mrs. XYZ”.  A good legal practitioner will ensure that the first names of both parties are clearly stated.

Where  a couple jointly buys a property and documents it in the names of one of them , the legal owner of that property is the person in whose names the property was bought. In case of conflict or death, it will be difficult to prove that you contributed to the purchase of the land or the construction of the building and thus jointly own it.

This clarification is even more necessary because of certain cultural trends in certain parts of Nigeria, where a woman has little or nothing to say to say in the distribution of the assets of her late spouse .

So, for couples who own properties in their individual names who would like to protect their interest or those of their beneficiaries, writing a will is a must. And both the husband and wife could write a will individually.

Finally, joint owners of properties should not only state so but should ensure that all the documents relating to such properties bear the names. This is not basically to protect yourself against each other but to protect yourselves against  third parties in case there is a conflict or an unforeseen  circumstance in future

BY ABIODUN DOHERTY

Source: Punchng.com