A fractional homestead is a homesteaded property owned by more than one person, where not all owners are related and/or occupy the property. Fractional homesteads occur when:
- Non-related co-owners do not occupy the property.
- A married person owns and occupies the property as their primary residence, but their spouse does not (also known as "spousal homestead").
- There has been a failure to provide required documentation.
Qualifying exceptions
For a situation in which a married couple live in separate properties, a special spousal homestead may be granted if the non-occupant spouse's absence is due to one of the following reasons:
- Marriage dissolution proceedings are pending.
- The spouses are legally separated.
- A spouse's employment or self-employment location requires that spouse to have a separate homestead. To qualify for this, both of the following statements must be true:
- The distance between the spouse's places of employment must be at least 50 miles.
- The distance between each homestead must be at least 50 miles.
- Personal circumstances causing the spouses to live separately (not including the intent to obtain two homestead classifications for the purposes of evading or unlawfully reducing property taxes).
Required proof
The assessor requires proof of any qualifying exemption. You will be asked to provide one or more of the following types of proof:
- Paperwork disclosing legal separation or dissolution proceedings. For example:
- A letter from an attorney attesting to marriage dissolution.
- A copy of a court document attesting to your legal separation.
- The nature and location of each spouse's employment or self-employment For example:
- A W-2 form (with personal information, such as Social Security numbers, removed or blacked-out).
- A written statement on letterhead paper from your employer that includes your employment address, phone number, and dates of employment.