Tennants In Common - What Does It Mean?

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A year prior to marriage, my husband and I sold our homes and bought a new one. We used the equity from his as a downpayment on the new home, and used the equity from mine to pay off bills and furnish the new home. We were listed on the title as Tennants In Common. We were married after a year. It is now four years later, and my husband is asking for a divorce. He says he can request the entire downpayment back. Doesn't Tennants In Common mean that both parties have equal equity unless specified in the contract? Help!!! surprised

Comments(4)

  • jorge12124th August, 2003

    tenants in common each own (unless specified otherwise in the deed) an undivided 1/2 interest in the property and are each entitled to occupy the premises. your state may provide for the equitable distribution of property (even nonmarital property, i.e property acquired prior to marriage). you may want to speak to a divorce attorney in your area about to determine if your status as a spouse has any affect on the ownership of this property.

  • Rownis24th August, 2003

    Correct me if I'm wrong. Your answer means that, regardless of who paid the downpayment, unless otherwise specified in the deed, we each hold half interest.

  • Rownis24th August, 2003

    In other words, he can't come back 5 years later and say "I didn't mean to do that."

  • jorge12125th August, 2003

    correct. the default rule is that,unless you specified otherwise, you each own an equal 1/2 undivided interest in the property. ownership would not be partitioned based on your financial contributions to the deal (unless you agreed otherwise).

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