Caveat in Family Law

Relationship breakdowns can be a source of emotional distress and grief. These feelings can be inflated by the complex, and often unavoidable, exercise of dividing property. Sometimes in a relationship, both parties have an interest in a property but only one party’s name is on the title. You may have an interest in the property you shared with your former partner, however, your name may not be on the property title.

There are a number of reasons that a title may not list both partners. One partner may have bought the property prior to the relationship, the property may have been inherited by one party, one party bought the property prior to the relationship or for tax purposes or for some other reason. If you have an interest in a property that is not registered in your name, one tool that is available to protect the matrimonial assets is the lodgement of a caveat on the tile to real property.

When Can a Caveat be Used in Family Law?
It is important to understand that even if the property is just in one party’s name, the other party may still have a caveatable interest on the said property. For example, you may have contributed to paying the mortgage on a house or you may have contributed in other financial or non-financial ways during the relationship and this may not be reflected on the property title.

If you share a property with your spouse or partner but the property is solely in your partner’s name, your partner may have the ability to deal with that property without your consent. This will be an issue in a family law matter especially if the property should form part of the matrimonial property pool. In such circumstances, a caveat may prevent your partner dealing with the property before the Court may deal with the family law dispute.

How Does It Protect You?
In a family law property dispute, lodging a caveat on a property protects your interest in it. This will prevent the party on title, dealing with the property in a way that could detriment you. The word caveat means “beware” and it acts as a warning for anyone else who does a search of the property; they would see that someone else has an interest in the property. A caveat on a property title should serve as a red flag to anyone who is seeking to purchase the property. In order to sell or deal with the property, the caveat would need to be removed.

If you would like to know more about caveats and how you could protect your rights and interest, simply email us at info@straitslawyers.com or call at 08 8410 9069 to arrange an appointment.

Alternatively, you can book an online consultation with us via this link: https://straits-lawyers.square.site/product/online-consultation-/11?cs=true

Please note that this article does not constitute legal advice and Straits Lawyers will not be legally responsible for any actions you take based on this article.