Divorcing couples new fight over overseas property

For years, divorcing couples
fought over who got the rights to the couples’ overseas property in France,
Spain or Italy. Now, however, falling property prices in the Eurozone are
resulting in acrimonious arguments between couples desperate not to take on a ‘toxic’ property.

The Daily Telegraph reports that ‘tumbling property values in countries
hit by the Euro crisis are rapidly turning former ‘dream’ homes into a ‘toxic’
legacy.’ Keep reading to find out more.

Divorcees desperate to avoid taking on ‘toxic’ properties

There are a number of divorce
cases in progress in which the question is not which partner keeps their
overseas property, but which of them will be forced to take it on.

The Daily Telegraph reports that ‘one lawyer described the task of
dividing the assets between warring couples who own a holiday home as like ‘a
game of pass the bomb’.’

The newspaper reports two cases
including a ‘dead duck’ villa in Spain and a property in Cyprus that is worth
minus £53,000 thanks to a fall in the value, local taxes and fluctuations in
the value of local currency.

Louise Halford, a partner in
family law at Pannone Solicitors, said that disputes regarding overseas
property had become one of the biggest problems in divorce cases in recent
months.

She said: “It seems like a great
idea owning a property abroad when you are a happy family but as soon as your
relationship is rocky they are a disaster to be honest. I always encourage clients
to get rid of it and let the other side have it because they are more trouble
than they are worth.

 Ã¢â‚¬Å“It is the thing that nobody wants in their divorce, it has
become a millstone around the divorcing partner’s neck, they are toxic really
for some people.”

Many of these cases aren’t between
the super-wealthy but between middle class couples who purchased an overseas
home in the boom years. Now, divorcees can’t seem to be able to get their names
off these properties fast enough

Author Nick
Marr