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9. If you gave up your job to rear babies years ago, now is the time to put as much cash into your nest egg as possible, and assume the worst is going to happen. If it doesn’t, then that is a bonus.

10. Keep a diary, they make Affidavits very easy.

11. Find a solicitor who has a lot of experience in Family Law. The best way to start is to ask at your local Magistrates Court. Make an appointment with the Chamber Registrar and ask his/her for advice on who to choose. They have years of experience to draw on and will know far more about your situation than you realise merely from the fact that you are there. If you are far too nervous to do this, get in touch with the Women’s Domestic Violence Court Assistance Scheme (WDVCAS). (Even if domestic violence is not present in your relationship, this wonderful group of volunteers can supply you with more information than you will ever need). .

12. NEVER listen to what I call ‘pub talk’. Legal advice from friends and relatives may lift your spirits, but it may not always be the law. ALWAYS stay within in the boundaries of the law in everything you do. If you are unsure of anything, no matter how small you may think it is, run it by your solicitor first.

13. Try to stay in the family home for as long as possible. If you have to, move into a spare room and put a keyed lock on the door. Your partner may try to make this as unbearable for you as possible. It is important that you ignore them. Ear plugs help! Draw the line in the sand and if your partner becomes abusive in any way, call the Police and ask for an AVO (Apprehended Violence Order).

14. GET YOUR PROPERTY SETTLEMENT STARTED ASAP. This can take years in some circumstances but can be achieved in 12 - 18 months. Whatever happens, NEVER settle for less because your partner is harassing you to do so. At this point your partner may try to cut off your finances to force you into an early settlement. This is why you will need a nest egg.

15. Go to Centrelink and explain your circumstances. Take with you all the documentation you can get your hands on i.e., birth certificates, marriage certificates, bank account statements, tax returns, medicare cards etc. They will even give you counselling if you want it.

16. BE FRUGAL.

17. Start looking for a job. Mission Australia is fantastic and will help you organise a CV and even cover new work wear.

18. The Child Support Agency can do nothing if your ex quits his job or moves overseas. You have to be proactive with the CSA, as they do not automatically chase payers unless you ask them to. Treat any CSA payments as a bonus and NEVER bank on them.

19. You may have to live with rellies after settlement, or even rent, but try and buy a new property as soon as you can after settlement. You’ll be able to cut a good deal as you’ll be a cash buyer. Be prepared to down-size and/or move out of area - a townhouse is perfect if you have children.

20. Make a new Will.

Take the reins of your life and move forward . . . onwards and upwards!!!!

And now, my dear readers, I’d love to hear from you - what tips do you have on managing property in a failing marriage?

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The first part - Life Tips in a Marriage - will open your eyes to things that need to be done to keep you safe, whatever happens. The second part - Life Tips in a Failing Marriage - will help you go through the tough times, if and when they come.

Life Tips in a Marriage

1. ALWAYS ensure the marital home is in joint names. If hubby is against this, ask why, but do not take no for an answer.

2. ALWAYS be involved in your joint financial affairs. Know exactly what bills, loans and mortgages you both have and keep an eye on joint credit card debt. Hubby’s debt becomes yours and vice versa.

3. NEVER agree to allow the drawing down of extra mortgage payments without both signatures, and never let this be accessed via internet banking.

4. Try to keep a finger in the employment pie, no matter how small it is. Try working from home when the babies are little.

5. NEVER let anyone access your superannuation fund, even if it is ‘just to look’. Keep it password protected.

6. Build a small nest egg for a rainy day that can only be accessed by you. Be open and honest about it. Call it what you want, but it’s your insurance policy. If you don’t have an income and you are a full time Mum, this nest egg is an absolute necessity.

7. Always be involved in compiling taxation returns, yours and your partners, ESPECIALLY if he is self employed. Never let yourself be used as a Partner or Director in hubby’s own business unless you really are drawing a salary of your own and have your own bank account to put it in.

8. If you have a car, make sure it is registered in your name.

To be continued - coming up next Life Tips in a Failing Marriage, stay tuned.

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Joint tenancy means all the tenants own equal shares of the property. As a direct consequence of this it’s impossible to divide the ownership, for example, seventy-thirty - which is not good in a situation where 2 owners haven’t invested equal amounts of money into the property.

Another interesting thing to know about joint tenancy is what happens to the property when one of the tenants dies. His or her share automatically passes to the other tenant, or if there is more than one, is shared equally between them all.

Co-ownership agreement

This document is a must-have for any kind of joint tenancy. It should list all the potential problems, all the disputes that may arise between the owners and ways to settle them. To give you an idea of a dispute, it could be that one owner wants to refinance and the other one doesn’t, or one owner defaults under the finance and the others get affected by it.

How to choose

The main reason to choose tenancy in common over a joint tenancy would be control. If you want a complete control over your share of the property - go for tenancy in common. If you want to make sure that your share passes on your heirs when you pass away - choose tenancy in common. And remember that you need a valid will that specifies who you’d like to have it.

Another consideration is financial risk. If you are exposed to a greater financial risk than your partner (and you are buying a house together), consider making your share smaller in case your creditors go after your house.

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Even in cases when there are 2 owners and they are a married couple, things aren’t simple. I have the same amount of patience for legal matters as the next girl, but these things need to be read once, remembered and acted upon correctly - or your financial future and that of your loved ones can suffer.

As someone who isn’t qualified to dispense legal advice, I will just bring the issues up and then leave it up to you to think about them and decide that you’re either not interested because it’s not going to happen to you anyway - or to be better safe than sorry and ask your solicitor or conveyancer.

Let’s begin with the benefits of co-owning a house, or reasons to do this in the first place.
Buying a house with a friend (or even friends) allows you to pool money together to put a deposit down, your borrowing capacity grows, you pay only a share of purchasing costs (building / pest inspection, legal fees, stamp duty), you can split the costs of owning (council rates, maintenance costs, etc).

And now let’s talk about the ways of co-owning. Basically there are 2 ways of owning a property together with someone else: tenancy in common and joint tenancy. These boring legal terms may sound similar but there are differences and if you’re not careful, these differences can cost you a lot of money.

Tenancy in common

Tenancy in common allows you to specify the proportion of the house that you own. For example, if 3 friends buy a house together and each brings a different amount of money to the table, this can be translated into them owning a different share of a house.

This is best demonstrated by an example:
Andrew, Ian and Casey bought a house together. Andrew contributed 50K, Ian contributed 100K and Casey contributed 150K. We will note in the transfer of land that Andrew’s share is 1/6, Ian’s share is 2/6 and Casey’s share is 3/6. This way transfer of land notes a fair share for every co-owner.

A good thing about tenancy in common is that each tenant has a total control over their share if property. They can sell it, they can get a loan against it, transfer it to anyone, etc.

In my next post I will explain about joint tenancy, and then compare the two and their consequences for the co-owners. Stay tuned!

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If you’re interested to learn something new about frugality - or about me, Chris Lang, head over to Almost Frugal - a very interesting blog that I’ve been following for a long time. You’ll get a chance to find out what is the most typical frugal thing that I do, and what is it that I do and most of you, probably, don’t

Actually, for those of you who are interested, we can play the same game here - but apply it to the property market. Anyone who is willing to put his hand up will get 4 questions from me, and I will have a chance to learn about my readers and what frugality means to them.

So let’s do this. Who want’s to go first?

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