WA Home & contents insurance claim proceeding but policy has only one of two names on the title deed.

[Anthony1974]

X partner has Home & contents insurance on joint house that burnt down, am I entitled to any monies as I am on the title deed? Or could she just pay her half of whats owing on the morgage & walk away leaving me with a debt & no where to live?
How can an insurance company payout 355k to only one of the parties listed on the title deed? What if I had my own home & contents insurance claim with another insurance company? Do we both get paid out the 355k?

 

[Docupedia]

There are a few points to your query:
- In most cases, the mortgagee wants to be listed as an interested party on the insurance and therefore get paid out first.
- The people entitled to an insurance payout are the insured listed on the policy - which may not necessarily be the owners.
- You can't pay 'half a mortgage' - mortgage debts are 'joint and several' unless the lender agrees otherwise. Lenders almost always don't agree otherwise, and I think that's even less likely to happen in your hypothetical situation.
- Over-insurance and duplicated insurance is a bit more complicated and I can't remember exactly what happens there, except that it used to wind up biting you in the arse. Not only will you cumulatively be paying too much for insurance, but the insurers will (if they find out about each other) likely only pay part of the loss each under what is known as 'contribution'. Someone with more knowledge in insurance will have to chime in here.