First time poster here, long time follower.
TLDR: what is the actual practical difference between me owning the entirety of our house in paper, vs my spouse having a 1% ownership? Since it’s wealth acquired during marriage, isn’t it supposedly jointly owned?
I’ve lived in japan for over a decade and decided to go ahead and buy a manshon on loan. The ideal situation would be to get a couple loan 50/50 with my spouse and share all expenses etc since this will be our home. Here comes the catch: my spouse is European, and currently lives abroad. She’s moving to japan in 3 months, initially under a dependent visa. Most banks refuse to let her be co-signee without a residence card, meaning we might need to wait in order to get the manshon (and probably lose the really nice one I’m currently negotiating for). But even if we manage to wait and delay the process, the most she could do is participate in the down payment (expenses effectively), which is minimal since we’re going for a 100% loan. In that case she could co sign and have ownership proportional to her share in the buying price … which would be something like 1%.
My question is: is it worth all that trouble?
This will be our home and we will both invest in it eventually in time and money (renovations etc). Also she will pay 50% of the monthly mortgage (probably indirectly to avoid the idiotic gift tax) so it’s only fair that she is listed as a co owner.
But in the end, does it really make a difference? I’ve read here repeatedly that assets obtained during a marriage are considered to be 50/50 in cases such as divorce etc. So, will my spouse be getting any more security by having a 1% ownership of the title, or is it not worth the trouble?
EDIT for clarification: of course ideally we would be 50/50 on the deed, but the only way for that to happen, seems to be to take a pair loan together. I would love to do that, but since my spouse is a foreigner without a japanese job (she has an EU based job) this is a clear *no* from the banks.
I am really stumped with this.
by opalakia