Adding wife to house title?

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gbill2004
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Adding wife to house title?

Post by gbill2004 »

If I buy a house in my name, then in a few years I want to add my wife/common lay partner to the title of the house, what is the process? My Dad thought that I would need to (on paper) sell the house, then buy it (again just on paper) in order to add my wife. Then I'd need to pay capital gains on the new purchase. This can't be accurate, can it?
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kcowan
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

Post by kcowan »

As long as the jurisdiction in which you reside considers the partner to be common law, they will waive the property transfer tax that normally must be paid on change of title. If the house is a principal residence, then the partner must also qualify for that status.
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

Post by gbill2004 »

kcowan wrote:As long as the jurisdiction in which you reside considers the partner to be common law, they will waive the property transfer tax that normally must be paid on change of title. If the house is a principal residence, then the partner must also qualify for that status.
Thank you and sorry...I'm in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

Post by SQRT »

All our real estate is sole title in my wife's name (aArizona house in a trust with wife as sole trustee). Originally was designed to avoid liability issues relating to my job. Not sure what the advantages would be for joint ownership?
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

Post by ockham »

gbill2004 wrote:
kcowan wrote:As long as the jurisdiction in which you reside considers the partner to be common law, they will waive the property transfer tax that normally must be paid on change of title. If the house is a principal residence, then the partner must also qualify for that status.
Thank you and sorry...I'm in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
In Manitoba, the Land Titles Office mandates the form and content of the transfer document. You'll need to see a lawyer for the form and for its completion. Cost should be lawyer's fee + registration fee (approx. $100). Transfer tax should be waived provided the form is properly completed.

If you are already in this common law relationship, why are you thinking about buying in your name and adding partner's name later?? You may wish to canvas with the lawyer the effect, if any, of such a transfer on your rights in the event the common law relationship breaks down.
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

Post by AltaRed »

ockham wrote:If you are already in this common law relationship, why are you thinking about buying in your name and adding partner's name later?? You may wish to canvas with the lawyer the effect, if any, of such a transfer on your rights in the event the common law relationship breaks down.
I was thinking the same thing, EXCEPT if the relationship breaks down before the couple becomes a legit common law relationship under MB law, then I presume the OP wants to be sure to get all of his money back (no sharing of house proceeds). Depends on what Family Law in MB says I suppose with respect to matrimonial homes BEFORE the common law relationship is recognized.

I know when my (now) common law spouse and I bought our house (in BC) as tenants-in-common title, our lawyer told us not to make any changes in Title until we became common law in two years (BC Family Law) so as to avoid triggering of Land Transfer taxes.
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

Post by tedster »

Years ago when I was married we bought a house. That is, the title was in my name. I paid the mortgage off and all the maintenance. In fact one could not even say she "paid" by being the housewife. She went to work and I worked out of home, so I did all that. Then I went into business for myself, and following legal advice, transferred the title to my wife. This was in case I was sued. Years later we had a divorce and she took the house. I guess as long as it is even and both are protected, it matters little what sort of arrangement you are in. Of course, if we had been renting, there would be no problem.
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

Post by SQRT »

tedster wrote:Years ago when I was married we bought a house. That is, the title was in my name.
Then I went into business for myself, and following legal advice, transferred the title to my wife.
Years later we had a divorce and she took the house.
Presumably your assets would have been split evenly and the house title wouldn't have effected that? I guess if both of you wanted the house as part of the even split, ownership might bestow an advantage to one party in achieving that?
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

Post by tedster »

SQRT wrote
Presumably your assets would have been split evenly and the house title wouldn't have effected that? I guess if both of you wanted the house as part of the even split, ownership might bestow an advantage to one party in achieving that?
One should never presume anything when it comes to divorce, unless it is the fact that it is likely to be ugly. The title was clear. It was in her name. :( I have a relative who was married for 17 years. Their home was being upgraded all the time when he was travelling at his expense. Then "Boom" he got hit with a divorce. The house was in her name, similar reasons as in my case. Guess who walked away with the house? And this was not Quebec as it was in my case. Best to rent. :)
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

Post by brucecohen »

Tedster, today's family law in Ontario requires a 50-50 split of the matrimonial home no matter whose name is on the title. That's unless BOTH spouses agree otherwise. I believe -- but am not sure -- that this is true in the other common law provinces and have no idea of whether it applies in Quebec.

As explained here, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that estranged common law couples don't have quite same right to an asset split as married couples do.
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

Post by tedster »

brucecohen wrote
Tedster, today's family law in Ontario requires a 50-50 split of the matrimonial home no matter whose name is on the title. That's unless BOTH spouses agree otherwise. I believe -- but am not sure -- that this is true in the other common law provinces and have no idea of whether it applies in Quebec.
Unfortunately, Ontario and GTA are not the centre of the universe. :) In Quebec I believe today, the default is that when you are married, you are in community of property. Hence a house would be split 50/50. However, when you marry you can opt for being "separate" as to property. This means what's your s is yours. When I got married, we went to a pre-marriage clinic run by the (RC) parish. The lawyer told us we should opt for separate as to property, that I as the major earner???? should give my wife a promissory note for $5,000 so that she would be the first creditor, and that we should run the family finances as if we were in community of property. We did all this. To my regret. :(

As for common-law, in Quebec if you decide to not marry, then you are not entitled to the benefits of marriage if there is a split. Only children are protected.

However, if it doesn't not matter whose name is on the title in ROC, then why bother?
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

Post by SQRT »

tedster wrote:SQRT wrote
Presumably your assets would have been split evenly and the house title wouldn't have effected that? I guess if both of you wanted the house as part of the even split, ownership might bestow an advantage to one party in achieving that?
One should never presume anything when it comes to divorce, unless it is the fact that it is likely to be ugly. The title was clear. It was in her name. :( I have a relative who was married for 17 years. Their home was being upgraded all the time when he was travelling at his expense. Then "Boom" he got hit with a divorce. The house was in her name, similar reasons as in my case. Guess who walked away with the house? And this was not Quebec as it was in my case. Best to rent. :)
I'm sorry you went through such a bad divorce. I sympathize as mine was also contentious. The matrimonial home in our case went to the X as well but that was through mutual agreement. I could have forced a sale and resulting cash split but I wanted my daughter to stay in her childhood home. The form of ownership was never an issue.
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

Post by tedster »

SQRT wrote
I'm sorry you went through such a bad divorce. I sympathize as mine was also contentious. The matrimonial home in our case went to the X as well but that was through mutual agreement. I could have forced a sale and resulting cash split but I wanted my daughter to stay in her childhood home. The form of ownership was never an issue.
Me too, I was surprised at the animosity I must admit. I was lucky, I had given her 40% of the shares in my company so that I could draw dividends on top of the small salary I paid her for doing nothing. Luckily, her lawyer assumed I had drained the company (which I did not do) and never went after the shares. I had opened a second one of course. However, it was 22 years ago, and I am over it. Wouldn't do it again :) The family is split completely.
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

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tedster wrote:I had given her 40% of the shares in my company so that I could draw dividends on top of the small salary I paid her for doing nothing. Luckily, her lawyer assumed I had drained the company (which I did not do) and never went after the shares. <snip> The family is split completely.
There were 4 of us and we gave each spouse 25% of the company. After the divorce, we did 2 cash calls to dilute her back to under 5%. The acrimony is what caused me to do it. She got her alimony plus 50% of personal assets. That was plenty.
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

Post by tedster »

kcowan wrote
There were 4 of us and we gave each spouse 25% of the company. After the divorce, we did 2 cash calls to dilute her back to under 5%. The acrimony is what caused me to do it. She got her alimony plus 50% of personal assets. That was plenty.
My lawyer told me that even if I had 51% I should do nothing. So I did nothing with the existing company but incorporated another one. My clientele did not care. Hehehe, so I charged all costs to the first one and all revenues to the second. However, even after the judge approved the esettlemnt she still tried to screw me. SAnyhow, this belongs in another topic. :)
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Re: Adding wife to house title?

Post by AltaRed »

Think we are off-topic to the OP's question.

The only advice I would add to what the OP asked is that it is important to get a co-habitation agreement in place, especially if one of you has outsized assets coming into the relationship relative to the other person, or income outsized relative to the other person, or you are entering into the relationship later in life after, for example, each of you having raised your own kids prior to this new relationship and you want your legacy to primarily go to your own adult children.

It is less important if entering into this relationship early in life when there will be a lot of 'family activities' such as having children, spending decades together, etc., all of which is more likely to result in a 'marriage-like' relationship.

Based on the OP's question, it is not clear to me the OP has pursued the value of a co-hab.
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