tel522
I would suggest you come to bali , to get all the relevant facts from your mother and any paperwork , but your mum is in a difficult position as her residence is owned by her ex it seems .
I would suggest to tread carefully and find a good notaris to discuss the facts when you have them .
As davita said hati hati.
tel522
yes unfortunately when he changed his passport to Aus , he has no property rights in Indonesia .
Good luck with your endeavors .
Planthunter
Hello Balipod. Thank you for this wonderful forum. I'm new here. I need some advice on an issue that relates to my mothers house. She is Australian and bought a house and land in Bali in 2000, legally in her Indonesian husbands name. She paid for the house. They have since divorced and she still lives in the house. My mother has vaguely told me about some paperwork that says she has a financial interest in the house and that my brother, the only child from this marriage, is the rightful heir should anything happen to her. This all seems convoluted to me so I'm keen to see the house and land get changed into my brothers name. I imagine his father will have to agree (could be problems) and there will be notaris involved etc. The issue is: my brother (25yo) now lives in Australia for last 10 years and lost his Indonesian passport some time ago. The Indonesian consulate had some really complicated system to replace it at the time so he applied for an Australian one which is what he has been travelling to Indo on. He has a KTP and Indo birth certificate but my mother thinks he's 'not Indonesian enough' to legally own the house. Does anyone have any advice on how my brother and mother can navigate this issue? The next issue is of course convincing my step-father to agree.
davita
Hi Planthunter and welcome to the forum.
Your question is of a legal nature and information here is only of opinion. Nevertheless, I hope you get some insight from other members.
I'll kick it off by saying your brother...if he has become an Australian citizen, and has an Australian passport, should have rescinded his Indonesian citizenship. If he now tries to maintain Indonesian citizenship, whilst holding Australian citizenship, he's committing an unlawful act.
I assume you are attempting to assign ownership of the property to your brother but, if he isn't a genuine RI citizen, as explained, he cannot assume Hak Milik (freehold) property as, by RI Constitution, only Indonesian Citizens have that right.
If your brother took Australian citizenship....it doesn't matter if he kept a KTP, passport and birth certificate...in Indonesian law he is a foreigner.
One way out is the Hak Milik (HM) title owner can convert HM into Hak Pakai (HP) in the land office and assign the HP lease ownership to your Australian brother. That assures he will have rights to live, or lease out, or mortgage the property at will.
Your mother, if a foreigner, doesn't have that ownership either so I'd think, from what you've said, is that her divorced Indonesian husband still has the HM title...IMO you may not wish to stir this as your mother may find herself disadvantaged....hati; hati....
But, if he is compliant, then converting the HM to HP to your mother and, she determines her will or transfers HP title to your brother after the fact, could obviate the issue.
Her current documents, where she presumes her financial interest is a contract, is disputable...she's actually lucky her ex-husband didn't disagree and made a claim.
Bali is full of similar circumstance.... but usually gender reversed.
Planthunter
Thank you both for your responses. I know this is a very precarious position. This pot hasn't been stirred because the arrangement was fine all this time (16 years). However my mother is considering moving to Australia again but every time she starts to think about moving, the house issue stalls any decision.
Some options I've heard her consider is becoming WNI herself (yikes!), leasing out the house for 20 years, or selling it and convincing ex-husband to sign to new owners. This last option would have been possible with the help of the ex-husbands new foreigner wife, who also has land and house in his name! However the new wife may be now leaving him too.
I was hoping there was a way to buy my mother time and security by her changing hak milik to my brother, but I didn't realise that by applying for Aussie passport took away his rights to be WNI. But your responses echo my mothers answer to this. I knew it could be tricky to arrange all the Kartu Keluarga etc for him. We were both teenagers when he lost his Indo passport and I told him to get an Aussie one, cause the paperwork was easier, despite it being more expensive. It seems my advice has now altered his rights to this house and his homeland.
davita
Your situation is not uncommon here but usually it's between an old Bule guy and a young Indonesian lady.
In 2000, unless a pre-nuptial agreement was signed prior to the marriage, a WNI married to WNA was [B]not[/B] permitted to purchase HM property. This was to ensure the WNA could not inherit HM property.
In your mum's case she needs to determine what actually occurred. If her ex-husband did not comply with law then, she may have some influence over how he may react now.
Problem is, if taken to court, the RI Gov't might expropriate the title...although I have never heard of them doing so.
The situation will be best handled by determining the relationship left between your mum and her ex-husband. If there is no animosity, and he is compliant, then converting the HM to HP, in your mum's name, gives her the 'rights of use' of the property (but not the HM rights) to do as she wishes....for many years.
Otherwise, selling the property and getting her ex-husband to sign over the HM title would be a good way to solve the issue....especially if a % of profit, if any, was promised to the ex. to keep him happy.
