Last week we were assisting with an asset protection and structuring re-arrangement & the referring adviser asked - why would an at-risk spouse retain a 1% interest in a property? As explained by an earlier post, the reasons can include:
- Protection against spouse or relationship difficulties.
- Protection against the majority owner seeking to encumber the property - no mortgage may be taken out over the property without the consent of the 1% spouse
- For ease of security arrangements – a financier may prefer to see the at-risk spouse’s name on title documentation.
- Stamp duty savings. It should be noted that in most states there are concessional provisions which apply where one spouse who owns 100% of a family home and transfers 50% (but no more or less) to their spouse. Indeed, some states, such as Victoria, allow the transfer of more than 50% of a home without any duty costs.
** for the trainspotters, the title of this week’s post may remind some of legendary/notorious early nineties band Jane’s Addiction – see - https://vimeo.com/3867179
*** the visual this week is designed to remind - there are other ways to learn life lessons than destroying entire ecosystems