Avoiding messy split ups – cohabitation agreements for couples planning or currently living together

In our fast moving world, the importance of family is anchored, but the concept of “family” is an evolving one – moving faster than the law, in many cases.

Making plans to live together can be an exciting time in your life but there is often a misconception that cohabiting couples have the same rights as married couples or couples who have entered into a Civil Partnership. The most common misconception around cohabiting couples is the term ‘common-law husband or wife’. This does not exist, and many unmarried couples who live together assume that after a long period of cohabitation, they will be entitled to claim a share of their partner’s assets when they separate.

Cohabitation agreements can be put in place right before you start living together and help to clarify who owns and owes what, what financial arrangements you decide to make while you are living together and how the property assets and income should be divided if you split up.

In our final family webinar in the series, our experts talked through a case study surrounding cohabitation of an unmarried couple focussing on: