A co-owner of a property is capable of selling his/her undivided share in the property provided the purchaser is willing to make a purchase in the said manner. the only other way is to partition a property, either through court or through a partition deed, and then affect sale of divided property.
In the course of a marriage, it is popular for couples to jointly acquire assets together; be it stocks, properties, vehicles and all.
They may do this in their names or by using both names together. I have also seen situations, though not as common as in a marriage relationship, where single people who are in relationships acquire properties together. Some business partners have also done the same in other circumstances.
In the unfortunate event that the marriage or relationship or business falls apart, some of the clashes that arise with regards to those assets or properties usually revolve around who is entitled to keep or dispose of the properties acquired during the marriage or relationship or business partnership.
Joint ownership is a form of ownership of the same property or assets by two or more people, which could be among married couples, business partners, parents and their children and even people who are seemingly in love.
Under joint ownership, the parties share equal ownership of the asset or property and as such have the equal undivided right to keep or dispose of the asset or property.
They are also afforded survivorship rights in the event of the death of a co-owner. This means that when one partner dies, the other receives all of the property they own jointly,except if otherwise stated in any document by both parties.
A partner cannot however dispose of the property through a will without the consent of the other party or partner; even if the said relationship does not exist anymore.
Once the relationship ceases to exist, the ethical thing that is expected is that each party should agree on how the asset or property should be disposed of and both parties should share the proceeds equally.
Each party has equal liability and rights to any asset or property jointly owned by them. All parties together own the whole of the property as one legal person and are each entitled to an equal, undivided right in the property and its proceeds of sale. They are equally responsible for any liability arising out of its ownership.
In the case of MAUREEN OTIGBAH & ORS v. AGATHA ADETUTU UWANAKA & ANOR (2020) LPELR-49539 (CA)
The Court stated the position of the law that in order for there to be a valid partition of a property that is jointly owned, all the co-owners have to consent to the property being partitioned and the partitioning has to be in equal shares or where that cannot be attained, the provision would be made for payment of money to secure equality of partition.
The parties in this case are children of the deceased
The appellants and the 2nd respondent are children of the same mother while the 1st respondent has a different mother. The common denominator between the parties is their late father. The root of the contest in this appeal is the property left behind by their father.
In some other circumstances, a husband may purchase a property in the name of his wife or vice versa. In such circumstances, the law would presume an intention to gift the property to the wife or the husband as the case may be. This is called a presumption of advancement. When a woman buys a property in the name of her husband, it does not belong to him. Rather, the husband is holding the property in trust (as a guardian, to help her keep the property) for his wife. However, where a husband buys a property in the name of his wife, the property belongs to the wife, and it is seen as a gift from him to her.
This was what the Court said in JOLUGBO & ANOR v. AINA & ANOR (2016) LPELR – 40352 (CA) (Pp 27 – 29 Paras A – D) where Hon. Justice Amina Adamu Augue JCA (as she then was) said that: “The law also makes a distinction between the husband and the wife – when a wife buys a property, and conveys it in the name of her husband, there is no presumption of advancement in favour of her husband; he holds in trust for his wife.
However, if the husband purchases a property in his wife’s name, this is prima facie a gift to her – see Silver v. Silver (1958) 1 All E. R.523.” Thus, if a man does not desire to gift his wife a property, it should be bought in his name or in the joint names of himself and his wife
I have also seen cases where both spouses contributed to the purchase of a property financially and where the relationship is dissolved the woman claimvs they purchased the property together but is unable to prove it.
Unless the spouse claiming contribution is able to provide convincing proof of a direct and substantial contribution to the acquisition of the property, such spouse cannot claim joint ownership. Especially, where the property in question was purchased in the individual name of either of the parties.
In the absence of evidence to the contrary, property bought by a husband in the sole name of his wife is presumed to be a gift to her.
This may also extend to where a husband acquires title to land with his sole funds but inserts his wife’s name as a co-owner. In such cases, the wife will acquire an equal interest in the property.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Revealed! Details Of South-West APC Leaders Meeting With Presidential Aspirants
Russian energy embargo unlikely for years, says Putin
MORE revelations have emerged about Friday’s meeting held by South-West leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with aspirants from the zone, whose main objective, was on how to avert a crisis that will create a fractured party as it prepares for primary on May 30 and 31, Sunday Tribune has reliably gathered…
Supreme Court Has Cleared Civil Servants To Participate In Politics, Falana Tells FG
NIGERIAN workers are constitutionally-free to participate in politics, lawyer, Mr Femi Falana has said. He was responding to the warning from the central government to civil servants to stay off politics…
Battle For New Alaafin Begins As Ruling Houses Insist On Producing Next Oba
Russian energy embargo unlikely for years, says Putin
and then