Mortgage when half property is in trust?

[Jasandjules]

Not me, but a friend is looking to get a divorce. She will leave but wants half the house put into trust for his kids. Someone is interested in buying a half share in the house but it claiming they can't if there is a deed of trust in relation to the other half of the property.

Anyone know if this is right? I assume there would be some problems with repossession however.

[Claudia Skies]

Your gut feeling is correct - the real terms concept of owning "half a house" simply doesn't fly.

The way to achieve the desired result would, I think, be to put the whole house in trust and have different apportionments of the beneficial interest - like a Tenancy in Common. Which brings you back to the issue of identifying who the trustees are going to be and who has the power to force the trustees to make a sale when wanted.