Declaration of Trust / Form 17 for foreign rental income

Hi, My wife and I are looking to purchase a foreign property with joint (50:50) ownership and I have some questions about a Declaration of Trust / Form 17 please: Can a Declaration of Trust transferring beneficial ownership to my wife be used for a foreign property? If so, is the Declaration of Trust applicable globally e.g. it is recognised in the foreign country as well, or is it just a UK construct? Can a Declaration of Trust / Form 17 be used to allocate a full 100% of the beneficial ownership to my spouse? Can I enter a Declaration of Trust / Form 17 at any point post the property purchase and can I also terminate this at any point thereafter? Thanks,

Hi,
 

Thank you for your question, unfortunately  I cannot comment on whether a Declaration of Trust would be seen as a qualifying legal document in another country this would depend on that country's legislation.  If the the Declaration of Trust allocated 100% of the ownership of the property and any income arising from it it would no longer be a jointly owned property so a declaration on Form 17 would not be required.  You can enter into a Declarattion of Trust and complete a Form 17 at any time during your iownership of the property but the split of income on any basis other than 50/50 only applies from the date that both you and your wife sign the Form 17.  A Declaration of Trust is a legal document showing that a share of the ownership of a proportion of the property has been transferred so if this was to change in the future a further Declaration of Trust would be required . Thank you .