Living Together Clauses and Options

Living together has never been more popular. Cohabitation between un-married people has increased almost 80% in the last 20 years. However, there are laws that affect your co-habitation, especially if you break up.

While most un-married couples safely master living together, there are many reasons couples should invest in legal and financial agreements. See, you may think keeping property separate is simple and oral agreements are all you need, but think again. The lack of a written agreement can be an invitation to your partner claiming some of your prized possessions.

We never want to think that will happen but it does, time and time again. To avoid any possibility of misunderstandings create a contract for both of you to sign, agreeing to keep property separate. The property both of you brought into the relationship, including whatever was purchased separately during the relationship will remain separate.

A Cohabitation Agreement can assist separating partners in determining such things as:

• The ownership of various properties upon separation (not just land, but also such items as bank accounts, investments, jewelry, vehicles, time-share vacation properties).

• Which person will be responsible for the various debts that exist at the time of separation

• How jointly owned property will be handled – if one or both spouses wish to buy the other spouse’s interest in a jointly owned house, furniture purchased together, etc.

In the event of a break up however, if you are not able to sort matters out amicably, and you find you are in a dispute over how to work things out, you will need to use the cohabitation agreement in a legal setting – in other words, go to court.

Your agreement is more likely to be treated seriously by a court if you follow these guidelines.

The document should be:

1. In writing. This shows that you intend to be legally bound and the agreement can simply state you have such an intention.

2. Clear and unambiguous. You have to be very specific about your intentions. For example, if part of the agreement relates to one of you making financial provisions for the other, you need to stipulate where the money will come from and how it will be paid. Using vague or general terms could make the agreement 'void for uncertainty'.

3. Be made after taking independent legal advice. This is particularly important if the terms of the agreement seem to favor one of you over the other. Otherwise, it may be argued that one of you tried to disadvantage the other unfairly.

Most couples avoid co-habitation contracts like the plague for fear of jinxing the relationship. It's just good planning, that's all and making an agreement now will help you through any rough patches in the future.