Living Together

Personal Legal

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Useful information

Whether you are planning to marry or not, with a new relationship it is sensible to seek advice before you start to live together. You can avoid potential problems and expensive legal wrangling later by having a living together or cohabitation agreement, declaration of trust or pre-nuptial agreement drawn up.

If you haven’t got married but have been living together and your relationship breaks down then you may need our help. Although there is no legal concept of “common law marriage”, you may need assistance to sort out property ownership, debt, investments or savings and any problems with children. The rules after breakdown of cohabitation can be different from those for married couples and could make a significant difference to your financial future, if you are not properly advised.

We act for both opposite and same sex couples in close liaison with our Dispute Resolution department who sometimes need to deal with property disputes for unmarried couples.

Living together agreement

If you aren’t planning on marrying but would like to protect your rights should your relationship break down, then you should consider a living together agreement.

Today, more and more couples are deciding to live together without getting married. If you live with your partner but are unmarried, then no matter how long you have been together, you do not have the same rights as married couples and you may have little legal protection if you split up. Most cohabiting couples who live together do not have a written agreement governing their rights, but virtually all of them should.

Contact one of our lawyers for more information.

Declaration of Trust

Buying a property can seem like as much of a commitment as getting married and, as with marriage, even though you do not foresee any breakdown in your relationship, there is always a risk which could result in a dispute over your home. The good news is there are methods to protect yourself from both when initially purchasing a property or also if you already own your property.

At Coodes we are able to offer specialist advice on the formal documentation which is known as a ‘Declaration of Trust’.

We can advise upon and draft the Declaration of Trust to suit your needs. We can set out the initial contributions you are to make (or have made) and we can include aspects such as what happens to your shares in the event that you pay certain ‘expenditure’, including mortgage payments, improvements or endowment policies. This allows for you to have ‘floating shares’ rather than ‘fixed shares’. We can make it clear as to how records, statements and receipts of expenditure should be kept so that the proceeds can be calculated upon a sale.

For more information contact one of family team or call one of our local offices.