Buying property with girlfriend

[Joeyv]

Hi my girlfriend and I are considering buying a property 50/50

We both currently own several properties each but we do not own any together.


We have not lived together before (if that makes a difference) but are planning on living in this new property.

I was wondering if we did buy the property 50/50 and our relationship did not work out how would our property's/money be divided?

Also I own a lot more (money ) than she does.

So I am wondering what sort of legal agreement we need so if we go our seperate ways I can take my larger percentage and she can take hers

 

[geoffw]

I'm disappointed.

From the thread title I thought that you were buying a property which had a girlfriend included.

 

[Perp]

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

You may need to prepare a binding financial agreement if you want to protect your assets in case of a relationship breakdown. It's possible - even likely - that a Court would find that you were in a de facto relationship (having lived together and owning a property jointly). If you are considered to be in a de facto relationship, your legal rights and obligations are identical to what they would be if you were married, and would be dealt with under the Family Law Act.

http://www.familyrelationships.gov.au/BrochuresandPublications/Pages/propertydivisionwhendefactorelationshipsbreakdown.aspx

 

[Joeyv]

Ok thanks for the info

To find out about this what type of laywer would I need to talk to?

 

[Terry_w]

If you separate you can divide the property and everything else as you both agree - but if you disagree you may end up in the family court. If you are defacto (generally living in a relationship for 12months+, or earlier if children), or marired then the court has the powers to make orders on your property no matter which name it is in. This includes pre-marital property. Whether they do make orders and what the order will be will depend on a number of factors.

You should consider a binding financial agreement.

You should also consider carefully how to own the new property from other aspects such as:
asset protection from creditors
estate planning for death of either of you + incapacity of either of you
taxation
future borrowing ability
future serviceability
etc