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On divorce, if you don't have a property in your own name, you can actually still receive a share of the property. There is a very common misconception that only jointly-owned properties can be shared on divorce, but actually all matrimonial property, that is property owned by you, your spouse or jointly-owned, can actually be taken into account for the purposes of asset division. So it does not really matter whether the property is jointly or solely owned. There is a duty for both of you to disclose the assets to the court and to each other.

If the spouse sells the property and hides the money, it might be very difficult to reverse the transaction if sold to an innocent third party and it might be very difficult to trace the assets. If there is a danger of this, you can actually put a caution on a property so that it cannot be sold until the matter has been completed, and in some cases you can even apply to the court to set aside a transaction and freeze the assets.

If the property is owned by someone else, like a family member, you cannot assume that you will get a share in that property. These cases get very complicated, like with a family member being joined at an early stage in the proceedings. So I do recommend that you get legal advice.