Must I pay stamp duty if I buy out my ex-wife

We've made a 50:50 split and under those terms I will need to pay her £150,000
Back to back Couple Silhouette
If I buy my ex-wife out, will I need to pay stamp duty? Photograph: Ace Stock Limited/Alamy

Q I got divorced in August 2013 and the divorce agreement was to sell our house as soon as my daughter completed her secondary education. This will happen in June 2014. I am now in a position to buy out my ex-wife and the 50:50 split is that I will need to pay her £150,000. She has since remarried. My question is will I need to pay stamp duty if I buy her out? AW

A When a married couple divorce, or partners in a civil partnership dissolve the partnership, there is usually no stamp duty land tax (SDLT) to pay. That's because SDLT isn't payable if property is transferred to one or other of the couple as part of an agreement or court order which is part of divorce or dissolution proceedings. So provided buying out your ex-wife counts as part of your divorce proceedings, you shouldn't have to pay SDLT.

This is not the case when an unmarried couple split up and one of them buys the other out or takes over half the mortgage. So if you had split up without being married, you would have had to pay SDLT of 1% of £150,000.

Strangely, there is also an SDLT liability when you get married, or enter into a civil partnership, and part ownership of a property is transferred to a husband, wife or civil partner. In this instance SDLT is payable if the "consideration given" – which is the amount of cash paid or mortgage taken on (or a combination of the two) – is more than the £125,000 threshold at which SDLT becomes payable.