New queries, issue 4627

Separate ways

The various tax considerations on properties after divorce.

My client has an issue with stamp duty land tax as a result of his divorce and the purchase of a new home.

The Land Registry will remove his name from the title deeds of his previous marital home but he will have a charge of 40% over it. My opinion is that he is no longer an owner and his share is in effect an investment. Does this mean that stamp duty land tax is due at the normal rate on the purchase of his new house rather than at the increased rate for a second property? And when the marital home is eventually sold will he be liable to capital gains tax on the increase in the value of the house?

Before this happens it has been agreed that the ex-wife...