Cohabiting couples do not have the same rights as married couples when a relationship breaks down.
Are you thinking of living together or getting engaged? Here are our Top Tips to help you navigate the way forward.
Choosing to spend your life with another person is huge and it is easy to get distracted by the excitement of choosing a home, buying a ring or even buying a pet together.
Top tips when moving in together
Here are some top tips to consider before doing so:
Make a will
Consider making a will, especially if you plan to start a family. We know it’s often something you think you will do ‘when you’re older’— sooner rather than later is always best!
Cohabiting couples do not have the same rights as a married or civil partnered couple if the worst were to happen and a partner passes away. It is very important to make a will if you wish to provide for your partner as the intestacy laws do not apply.
Communicate
A top tip is to try to keep communicating. Whether together or apart, it's about creating a culture of respect, understanding, and kindness within the relationship. It’s not about never having conflicts; it's about how you manage and resolve those conflicts in a healthy way.
Who owns what?
Give some thought to how you might own property together; there are two options, joint tenants or tenants-in-common. #
If you own the property as joint tenants, you both own the whole of the property together and if your partner dies their share automatically passes to you.
If you hold the property as tenants-in-common, you can each hold different shares in the property, for example 70/30, 60/40 or 50/50. Unless you specify your respective shares it will be assumed you hold the property equally. If your partner dies, their share in the property will pass according to their will, or the intestacy laws if they do not have a valid will.
Know your rights
Cohabiting couples do not have the same rights as married couples when a relationship breaks down, even if this turns into a long-term relationship or you have children.
If a relationship comes to an end, there are very different outcomes depending on whether the parties are married or civil partners, or not. The rights of a cohabitant are limited to claims based on ownership, founded by property and trust law. They can be complex and difficult to make out. See our r guide to establishing beneficial interest in property.
Renting
If you rent a property together make sure your name is also on the tenancy agreement and not just your partners to try and avoid an unwanted eviction until you’ve sorted out your next move.
However be aware that this means that you are both jointly and severally responsible for the covenants under your tenancy agreement, including the payment of rent.
Property rights
Protecting property rights by entering into a declaration of trust to ensure that there is agreement on who owns what is very important if you are unmarried, as is considering entering into a cohabitation agreement.
Pet ownership
Pet ownership post separation can also be a huge worry. If your relationship ends, the ownership of your pet will determine who keeps them, unless you agree otherwise.
Other articles on cohabitation
Consider a cohabitation agreement
Consider drawing up a cohabitation agreement, also known as a “living together agreement”. This sets out your respective financial positions and your intentions for how your assets should be divided if your relationship comes to an end, including your rights and responsibilities towards one another and any children you might have.
If you have both taken independent legal advice, exchanged full and frank disclosure and signed the agreement free from pressure and undue influence it will generally be upheld by a court.
Consider a Pre-nuptial agreement
Think about a pre-nuptial agreement if you plan to marry or enter into a civil partnership, particularly if there is an imbalance of wealth between you. Alternatively, you may simply wish to ‘pre-determine’ the scope of a financial settlement if the relationship falters and avoid the stress and cost of contested litigation on the issue later down the line.
Engagement rings
Until a marriage takes place, parties are treated as if they are unmarried. However – what happens to an engagement ring?
The Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1970 states: “The gift of an engagement ring shall be presumed to be an absolute gift; this presumption may be rebutted by proving that the ring was given on the condition, express or implied, that it should be returned if the marriage did not take place for any reason.”
As such, it won’t be returned unless it is proven that there was an expectation that if the wedding did not take place, or in the event of a future divorce, the ring would be returned. An example may be that the ring was a family heirloom. Be clear and document the intention for the ring to be returned before giving it if this is important to you.
Parental responsibility
If you have children together, work out if you hold parental responsibility for your children and if not, how to acquire it. Parental responsibility is an important status and enables key decision to be made by both parents together.
Contact our expert family law team for advice on moving in together.
A version of this article was first published on 31 Mar 2020
