Make breaking up less hard to do

Naturally enough, nobody likes to consider the possibility of a marriage breaking down when buying a house or apartment with a partner.

Hopefully, it won't happen to you and you will live happily ever after in home-owning bliss. If, by bad luck, it does however, it will always be easier to work out the consequences if they have been considered in advance. This will be particularly true in the case of unmarried couples.

Key to this financial tidying up for unmarried people will be two factors: the type of ownership under which the house is held and the mortgage. First, the ownership will be important because it will provide basic information on who is legally considered to have bought the property. In simple terms, the person whose name is on the deeds will be the owner, leaving the other person struggling to prove any rights in relation to the property.

Unmarried couples in the Republic can own property in one of two ways: either through joint tenancy or tenancy in common. Joint tenancy means the property is owned by two people who have the intention that the other will inherit it fully when one dies. This is straightforward in situations where the partners contribute equally to the house purchase.

Where one contributes more than the other or pays for the property outright, however it may become more complicated. In cases such as this, legal advice will be required in the case of a relationship split.

The other ownership option - tenancy in common - is arguably more clear cut. Under this structure, the property is owned in distinct shares by two people. Thus, it will be legally divided according to the proportions desired by the owners. John could own 60 per cent, while Mary would have 40 per cent. Or both could have 50 per cent.

When it comes to passing these shares on, the partners are under no obligation to leave their bit of the property to the other member of couple.

This means they must make a will to determine how they would like their share to be treated in the event of a will, even if they want it to pass to their other half.

In the event of a split, either partner can opt to sell their share to the other without any doubts arising about how much they own. There may however be some complications if it turns out that the financial background to the house purchase is at all hazy.

This is because even though ownership will normally be determined by a look at the deeds, it can also be decided on the basis of how the house purchase was funded.

This is where the mortgage comes in. If a partner whose name is not on the deeds of the house can prove that he or she contributed to its purchase price, he or she may be able to gain some ownership rights.

These contributions can be either direct or indirect. Direct contributions would be providing money to fund the down-payment on the property or to cover mortgage repayments.

An indirect contribution meanwhile could be paying for day-to-day expenses such as household bills or unpaid work in the property.

This unpaid work will not however extend to looking after children or DIY.

The onus of proof here will be on the partner whose name is not on the deeds. They must be able to prove that they contributed to the purchase of the house with the intention of owning a share in it. They must also prove that they had no intention of "gifting" their contribution to the other party.

Again, legal advice should help to clarify the situation where it arises.