Quote:
Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger
I’m curious about this. If you own a place already and it’s fully furnished and everything and then she moves in, on what grounds would she be owed a part of your assets?
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I think the idea is the person moving in is giving up their opportunity to live in and gain from appreciation of a principal residence. Typically the other person would not own a house other than the one they are living in and certainly don't get to own two principals. So in that sense it's fair. The details of who pays what and how much one person is entitled to I'm sure varies and is likely negotiable.
As an example my friend in Toronto moved in with a woman in 2005. He's paid essentially rent and the house is by all accounts her's. But he should be able to gain from some of the huge appreciation...in the millions, they've gained from living there. You can't arbitrarily say oh no, your contribution was just rent, not a part of the ownership expenses...unless you state as much in a pre nup. And I'm also pretty sure any settlement takes into account the one person's capital output in buying the house and the appraised value at the time of the move in.