How to get a free house in London

In Moscow a UK citizen told me “I’d love to live in London, but a decent apartment is at least 1 million pounds [$1.3 million] and I don’t have those kinds of savings.”

Then I flew to London and learned about a shortcut to the savings process…

I talked to a guy who’d been a divorce lawsuit defendant after a two-year marriage. He explained that courts split a married couple’s property 50/50 and that, unlike in California, premarital property is included. So he lost a London house that he’d purchased prior to the marriage. He agreed to a 50/50 shared parenting arrangement with his plaintiff, which meant that she had a “need” for a house in addition to her baseline entitlement to 50 percent of the combined property. She had enhanced her claim by refraining from work during the marriage.

Note that being married for just a day or two may not be sufficient in order to get a full 50 percent share. Courts can deviate from this policy if the marriage is “short-term”. There is no set definition of “short-term,” but the idea seems to be “a few months.” A two-year marriage is not obviously “short-term.”

It is difficult to contract out of this regime because English courts don’t typically recognize prenuptial agreements (see the International chapter of Real World Divorce for litigation regarding a German prenuptial agreement that Nicolas Granatino wanted set aside so that he could get more of his wife’s assets).

English courts are increasingly gender-neutral and therefore the above strategy could be employed by a man targeting a higher-wealth and/or higher-income woman. It is definitely helpful to have a child, though.

[Separately, I wonder if this contributes to the income inequality that the British complain about. A UK citizen who didn’t want to risk losing half of his or her assets after a year or two would have to avoid marriage or marry someone with at least as much in premarital savings.]