The importance of transferring the matrimonial home to the wife with charge back to the husband rather than having it in joint names is illustrated by Turner v. Avis decided in the High Court last year.

As part of the consent order the shares in which the home was held were altered and it was agreed not to be sold until wife`s remarriage or cohabitation, death, or sale of the property. When the husband then went bankrupt, however, the trustee was not bound by those conditions and obtained sale of the property. The reasoning was that the trustee had the same right as the husband to apply under section 14 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 and just because such an application by the husband would have failed because of the agreement did not mean that the same application by the trustee should fail.

Written by Rebecca Fitton-Brown, Barrister at New Walk Chambers, specialising in Family Law.