I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 10:
Section 8: In page 11, lines 32 to 48, subsection (1) deleted and the following subsection substituted:
"(1) Where an interest in a materimonial home has vested in both spouses by virtue of section 4—
(a) in the case of registered land, if one only of the spouses is registered in a register maintained under the Act of 1964 as owner of the interest, both spouses or (in case the spouse so registered has died) the surviving spouse shall be entitled, on application in the prescribed form by either of the spouses or by the surviving spouse, to be registered as owners or owner thereof, or
(b) in the case of unregistered land, if one only of the spouses appear from a deed or deeds registered in the Registry of Deeds or otherwise to be the sole owner of the interest, a declaration in writing that the interest has so vested may be made by either of the spouses or, as the case may be, by the surviving spouse and a copy of the declaration, certified by that spouse to be true copy, may be registered in that Registry,
and, upon such registration, any legal interest in the home vested, or becoming vested, in the spouse who is so registered or who appears from the deed or deeds to be such owner shall, subject and without prejudice to the rights of any other person, vest in both spouses as joint tenants or, as the case may be, in the surviving spouse.".
These amendments are largely technical in character and deal mainly with matters relating to the Land Registry. Two matters are being provided for. It is now made clear that where one spouse is registered as the sole owner of land which includes a matrimonial home, the other spouse has a clear entitlement to apply in his or her own right to be registered as co-owner of that home. Ideally this registration should take place during the lifetime of both spouses but, where the owning spouse has died without such registration having taken place, the surviving spouse is entitled to apply for registration.
To facilitate registration by a surviving spouse, the provision of the Registration of Title Act, 1964, whereby the Registrar of Titles is compelled to recognise the personal representative alone as having any rights in respect of the land of the deceased, is being set aside in the specific incidence of the matrimonial home. In addition, no assent by the personal representative will be necessary to vest the outstanding legal interest in the surviving spouse. The assent is a means by which the actual transfer of the assets of the deceased to the persons entitled under the will or intestacy is usually carried out. Any legal interest of the deceased in the matrimonial home will remain with the personal representative until it vests in the surviving spouse on registration, but the personal representative is precluded from executing any assent in relation to that specific interest or from transferring it to another person.
This amendment is a purely technical one because the equitable interest, that is, the real beneficial interest of the deceased has already passed to the surviving spouse by a survivorship, and any legal interest remaining is of a nominal character. Provision is also made to cater for the situation where the surviving spouse may have died before he or she had time to register their ownership interest.