The Property (Rights of Spouses) Act became the law of Jamaica on April 1, 2006. The biggest change for which this bit of legislation owes credit is the presumption that each spouse has a 50% interest in the family home, regardless of whether both or only one name is registered on the title for the property. Under this Act a common-law spouse is treated in the same way as a spouse pursuant to a marriage however for such unions to qualify for protection the union must be between a single man and a single woman living together continuously for a period of at least five years.
The Court should now find it much easier to settle property disputes between spouses in respect of the family home. Hitherto it was necessary to embark on an artificial determination of the common intention of the parties at the time of acquisition which invariably was challenging since a happy couple very rarely expresses such intentions when purchasing a family or matrimonial home. To solve this the learned Judges would look at the respective contributions and from that derive the intention. Of course, such an approach often led to some unfairness since the party with the greater financial backing very often would end up with the lion’s share.
A party who wishes to avail himself/herself of the benefits of the Act must file the application within 12 months of separation or ending of the marriage. Additionally, a caveat can be lodged against the title for the Family Home preventing any disposal without first notifying the Applicant.
The 50:50 presumption can be displaced in certain circumstances such as where the home was inherited by one spouse or where the marriage was of a short duration