Cohabitation agreements

Marriage is on the decline these days and many couples who live together in the same house, or ‘cohabit’, are unaware of their lack of legal protection concerning finance and property should their partnership, or cohabitation arrangement break down.

As family law experts, we are often called upon for help to resolve disputes over property and
finances when things have already gone wrong, and the partnership has broken down. What then
ends up in stressful negotiations and potentially expensive litigation, could have been avoided if a
cohabitation agreement had been put in place at the outset.

There is a common misconception that if a couple live together for a certain time, they are covered
by similar laws pertaining to marriage. The fact is, cohabitees are not protected at all by law and if
there is no agreement in place when they cease to live together, or that partnership breaks down,
the legal work is then complex and expensive to resolve.

We strongly advise anyone entering a cohabiting situation to take out a cohabitation agreement. By
doing this you will avoid the protracted discussions and potential court proceedings further down the line. It may seem less than ideal to talk about ‘breaking up’ at the start of an optimistic period of
living together, but the fact is, some relationships do break up, and foresight of this, and getting the
agreements in place at the beginning, saves all parties further heartache and money.

Cohabitation agreements are perfect for any couple. There doesn’t need to be a romantic
involvement; couples can be friends, siblings, family members, colleagues, or simply two people who wish to own, share and live in a property together. Whatever the circumstances of the couple, it is
significantly beneficial to get the cohabitation agreement in place at the outset, while on good
terms, to establish the rights each has if they were to separate.

It can cost many thousands of pounds in legal work to arrange division of assets later, should a
cohabitation agreement not be in place. Dividing furniture, including inherited items, contents, any
equity and the splitting of proceeds can all be set out. Even agreements regarding the payment of
bills, mortgage repayments, refurbishments etc can all be contained in the agreement.

Within the agreement, a declaration of trust can be drawn up, setting out how the ownership of
property and assets are held, at which point clients are advised to then set out the detailed terms of
a cohabitation agreement. No detail is too small, and anything that could happen in a cohabitation
situation can be covered in the agreement and arrangements made.

We are experienced in all aspects of cohabitation agreements. We advise all cohabiting parties to
ensure they have peace of mind at the start of their cohabitation so that they know if things go
wrong, the process of splitting will be smooth and easy to arrange.