Dream holiday homes becoming ‘millstones’ for divorcees after Euro property plunge
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A second home in Tuscany or the south of France has long been the ultimate aspiration for many families.
But for couples in the midst of divorce, tumbling property values in countries hit by the Euro crisis are rapidly turning former “dream” homes into a “toxic” legacy, lawyers have warned.
A string of cases currently in the pipeline centre around the question not of which partner gets to keep the villa in Spain, Greece or Italy but which of them has to take it on.
One lawyer described the task of dividing the assets between warring couples who own a holiday home as like “a game of pass the bomb”.
Case notes in one separation currently being negotiated include discussions about how to deal with a “dead duck” villa in Spain which has tumbled in value but still has a hefty mortgage to service and little prospect of being sold.
