It's a fact of life that married couples do not stay together forever. Divorce is prevalent. Unmarried couples split up after spending decades together. If you own a property in Spain with your ex-partner, you may have come to an agreement as to whether you'll sell the property or whether one of you will keep the property, perhaps in exchange for something else, like the share in the matrimonial home in the UK.
There may be a court order in place whereby the half share owned by one partner actually becomes the property of the other, subject to the formalities of a formal transfer in Spain. More often than not, court orders specify that the half share belonging to one partner is to be transferred to the other. In any case, whether because of mutual agreement or so as to give effect to a court order, the most cost-effective way of transferring the interest of one partner to another in a jointly owned property is to dissolve the joint ownership. This option is preferable to a gift of the half share, or even a sale of the half share, as it attracts far less tax. Without going into great detail, an example would be a property owned by two people with a value of €200,000 Euros that would attract tax of €2,400 Euros if the joint ownership was dissolved, €8,000 Euros if the half share was sold, and an excess of €10,000 Euros if the half share was gifted.
In all other respects, the transaction is like a sale and purchase so the Notary's fee and property registry fee will be charged in the same way. As the partner who retains ownership of the property will already have been an owner, there'll be none of the usual issues to deal with in terms of expenses relating to the property, unless of course those issues form part of the wider considerations relating to the breakup of the relationship.
Jonathan Eshkeri, E&G Solicitors in Spain
