Dear Mrs Macaulay,

I am English and have been living in the UK with my Jamaican husband. He has had several affairs during our nine years and fathered a child outside the marriage. We live in a house I had before we got married. He returns to Jamaica twice yearly and is building a large four-bedroom property. I found out from his family that the lady he has a child with has moved onto the property. He tells me I have no rights over this property. I would argue that in the UK we share responsibility for all the bills and maintenance of the property we live in, also as his wife I have rights regardless as the property was built during the marriage. We run a small building business. He does all the manual work, I do all the paperwork, preparing and sending off invoices, tax returns and paying of wages. Please tell me my rights. Can I place a charge on the property in Jamaica?

How unfortunate that your marriage is falling apart. Your real concern, I believe, is about the property in Jamaica. It was obtained, you state, during the course of your marriage. The funds used to acquire it seemingly came from the business you and your husband jointly own and run. I assume this because you have not mentioned any other source of income which he has.

You say he has stated that you have no rights over the property. By this, he clearly means that in his view, you have no interest in it. You also say that the woman who has a child with him has moved into the premises. This is neither here nor there, if it is true.

You see, she and he cannot now be in a relationship which is recognised by the law. It is not a common-law relationship. As a result, her residence therein cannot cause any legal interest in it to accrue to her.

You can, certainly as his wife, under the Property (Rights of Spouses) Act, make a claim to an entitlement of 50 per cent of the legal and beneficial interest in the property. This is as long as he is registered as the sole legal proprietor of it. If he and the woman are registered together as joint tenants, the battle in court will be more complicated. You would have to prove that he did so in order to defeat any claim you may make for an interest therein. If he registered them as tenants-in-common, then his one-half could be dealt with in a straight-forward manner and the other in the same way as the joint tenant situation. I think it is more likely that he is the sole proprietor.

You should try to get all the information you can to properly identify the property. Get the volume and folio number of the title and failing this, get its full descriptive address.

If you are going to make the claim, you should do so now while you are still together or during your divorce process or within a year after you separate. Remember, you can be separate -- living separate and apart, even though you are living in the same house and you cook the food he eats, etcetera, BUT you do not have sex together. In other words, you are merely sharing the same roof and some domestic deeds for convenience.

You can put a caveat (what you call a charge) on the property to protect 50 per cent of its value which you claim you are entitled as wife. You must, however, not only do this. You must go on and make your claim in court and get the order. That is the certain way to secure you interest in it. You should make the claim for 50 per cent under the Act that the court makes a declaration that you are entitled to this and that he holds it in trust for you.

You can then ask for the property to be sold and your share be paid to you. You can also apply for an order that he has an option to buy out your share by a certain time and only failing this, should it be sold on the open market or by public auction.

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