My spouse has dementia and has moved into a care home. How can we sell our jointly owned home?

Most people who jointly own a home or a vehicle do so as joint tenants — the owners hold an identical interest in the property, and can’t sell their interest unless all owners agree. If your spouse doesn’t have capacity to make legal decisions, selling a jointly-owned property won’t be straightforward. But you have options.

One way to go is to become your spouse’s committee to make financial decisions for them. To become a committee, you must apply to the BC Supreme Court to be appointed by an order under the Patients Property Act. The process of becoming a committee is explained here. 

Another is to file a court application under the Partition of Property Act to compel the other party to sell the land. If your spouse is considered incompetent at law, he’ll need someone appointed for him in relation to any court application to force the sale of the property.

Unfortunately, neither of these options are quick. They’ll require time, effort, and resourcefulness for you to handle it on your own. Free or low-cost legal advice may be available to you — check out some options here.

Another planning option, despite your spouse’s cognitive decline, is a standard representation agreement. This document may allow your spouse — even if they lack full mental capacity — to delegate decision making on certain issues to you. A common misconception is that a standard representation agreement might be an option to allow your spouse to delegate all financial decisions to you. Unfortunately, selling a home is not something that can be done through a standard representation agreement, but it could help for more routine decisions that may come up. Have a look at this page on standard representation agreements to learn more.