What Are Matrimonial Home Rights?

Lauren Gaines

How can Matrimonial Home Rights protect your family’s future?

When a couple is married or in a civil partnership, both parties have a right to live in the home they share together, even if the property is only in one person’s name.

This is known as matrimonial home rights.

Matrimonial home rights are designed to prevent the non-owner and any dependent children from being excluded from the home when the relationship breaks down.

Matrimonial home rights for the non-owner include:

• The right to live in the home.
• The right to not be evicted without a court order.
• The right to enter and live in the family home with the court’s permission, if the non-owner is not currently in occupation of the home.

Keep in mind, home rights do not grant ownership of the property to the non-owner. These are only a temporary right to live at the property.

Still, home rights are crucial in ensuring that the non-owner and any dependent children have a place to stay. This is especially important while decisions about the division of assets are being made during a divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership.

Unmarried couples do not have matrimonial home rights. Speak to a solicitor about putting a cohabitation agreement in place if you are living with a partner but are not married or in a civil partnership.

• Also see our blog post: Matrimonial vs Non-Matrimonial Assets

How do you ensure you are protected by matrimonial home rights?

To fully protect these rights, it is important that they are registered with the Land Registry.

Registration of matrimonial home rights creates a legal notice on the property’s title. This means that the mortgage company, any other creditors with charges against the property and any potential future buyers will be made aware of the rights. In practice, this typically means the person who owns the property will ask for the non-owner’s consent before attempting to deal with the property, because third parties may be cautious to take any action against a property with an active home rights notice against the title.

How do you register matrimonial home rights?

This is a relatively simple process which involves filling out the correct form and sending it to the Land Registry. There are different forms depending on whether the home is registered or unregistered. This is something your solicitor will be able to do for you or you can do it yourself. Your solicitor should advise you of this in the initial stages of a divorce / dissolution, if you have not already registered your rights.

If the owning spouse/partner jointly owns the property with someone else, such as a friend or family member, it will not be possible to register matrimonial home rights. This is complicated, and you should contact a solicitor for further advice.

Can you register home rights against more than one property?

Matrimonial home rights can only be registered against one home at a time—the family home. This is the main home where the family spends a majority of its time.

Home rights can be transferred from one property to another if the family moves to another home.

If the owning spouse / partner owns several properties, one concern is that they may try to sell those properties to avoid a fair division of the assets during divorce/dissolution proceedings. A family solicitor has other legal remedies to prevent this from happening and you should speak to them urgently if worried.

How long do matrimonial home rights last?

Matrimonial home rights last until one of the following events occurs:

1. The divorce or dissolution Final Order is granted, which officially ends the marriage/ civil partnership.
2. Either party dies.
3. The non-owner gives up their rights either voluntarily or as part of a Consent Order or Financial Remedy Order.
4. The court issues an Occupation Order that states who can live in the home. Occupation Orders are often used in situations of domestic abuse.

Either party can apply to cancel registration of the home rights when they have ended.

How does a divorce affect matrimonial home rights ?

In the majority of cases, it is advisable not to apply for the Final Order in the Divorce / Dissolution until all financial matters have been resolved for a number of important reasons.

As above, matrimonial home rights come to an end upon a divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership. It is important therefore that a Final Order is not applied for too soon. If a financial order has not been made, this risks the non-owner losing the right to live in the family home, and the leverage to obtain a fair financial settlement may also be lessened.

If there is an ongoing dispute as to who should get what, then it may be possible to ask the court for a continuation order of the matrimonial home rights, to remain in place until financial proceedings have been resolved.

Either way, it is important to take legal advice before making any decisions about the division of property or who should continue to live in the family home during divorce / dissolution proceedings.

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