In 2007, a man bought a luxury condo in joint name with his wife as investment property. They got divorced in 2013. Now, he is applying to court to remove his ex-wife's name from the joint properties. The man claimed that the apartment was funded using the monies from his mother. And he only added his ex-wife's name because she threatened to commit suicide in 2007.
In 2017, the man expressed his affection, care and concern for the welfare for his ex-wife and children in writing to Family Justice Court. He noted that the condominium and an overseas property were in their joint names. He wrote, “I love her a lot and as such I put her names in my properties to make sure she is financially safe when I am gone" The court noted that the legal presumption of advancement operated strongly in this case, and this meant the man had intended to let his ex-wife share the property by making her a joint owner.
In 2017, the man wrote will stating that if his ex-wife died before him and he became the sole owner of the condominium, the property would be given to his son upon his death. The court regarded this as implicit acceptance of principle of survivorship by the man.
The court upheld an earlier order for the apartment to be sold and its proceeds to be divided equally between the both owners.
Couples who are listed as joint owners of a property are deemed to own the asset equally, even if only one of them had paid for it. This is because the law presumes that married couples intend to benefit each other through such arrangements unless there is compelling evidence to show otherwise.
