What is the correlation between fund source and names on the property title.? For example joint U.S. bank account transfers €500,000 and purchases property in joint name. Or spouse maintains sole U.S bank account and transfers same €500,000 into joint property title. How does the SEF view these different ways of transferring the monies for GV requirements?
1 Like
Bumping up the topic as I am also interested in the guidance on this. Thanks!
Yup me too.
So I am going for the fund option.
I will be more comfortable if my bank account and fund investments are in joint names with my spouse. But my lawyer advises me that the SEF would need a single name.
To me this it does not make sense because my wife and son application will be submitted along with mine, and I need to take care of of succession too.
I would appreciate any advice on whether joint bank and investment accounts would be accepted by SEF?
Thanks for your reply.
Do you have any reference to an official SEF guidance that support such view?
To my understanding, if a married couple acquires a property it would normally be done in joint names, with each party owning the whole property of EUR500k. This is different to acquiring in equal shares, in which case each party would own only half of the property.
By the way, my GV lawyer also advised to purchase in joint names, but I have not yet initiated the purchase.
Hi. Sorry for the confusion. Yes, a couple can buy an apartment joint name with just 500k. I was thinking in my head one of my client’s request where they are two family. In that case, they need to buy a one million property, each owning at least 500k part.
Thanks for clarification, and yes, my query was related to a legally married couple.
After extensive discussions and back-and-forths with my lawyers and the estate agency, we so far have settled on the following:
- SEF appears to require the main GV applicant to invest EUR500k or above.
- At the same time, the main GV applicant cannot ‘hide’ his/her marital status from the Notario who will ask for it before the Escritura is signed.
- To satisfy both, the main GV applicant should be listed as the ‘Buyer’ and his/her sole signature should appear on the Escritura. Their marital status, marital regime, and the spouse name should also be listed in the Escritura.
- The main GV applicant should execute all necessary payments in their sole name only, i.e. from their sole foreign bank account to their sole Portugal bank account, and then from there to the seller.
If anyone would like to pick holes in this method, please feel free to share your thoughts 
FYI the types of Portugal marital regimes are explained here:
angloinfo.com/how-to/portugal/family/marriage-partnerships/marital-regime