With more and more people now choosing to live together without getting married, it is important that, if you are considering living with someone as a couple, you consider the financial issues and reach an agreement about your obligations and responsibilities.
We offer FREE ½ hour initial advice appointments.
At Jackson Quinn we can help you consider all of the issues, and draft documentation that will clarify the arrangements. This is useful as the relationship progresses as it can help to avoid disputes by setting out obligations and expectations. It can also be helpful in sorting things out if the relationship breaks down.
Co-habitation
More and more couples now live together without getting married or forming a civil partnership. No matter how long a relationship, the law still effectively treats such couples as separate individuals with no automatic rights or obligations to each other if the relationship ends.
This has some far reaching consequences, particularly in relation to a home (most people’s biggest asset). The majority of couples fail to consider this until after their relationship has ended, which is often too late.
Jointly owned assets may need to be divided on separation and it is often not cost effective to argue about personal possessions before the Court.
It may not sound too romantic, but it is quite legitimate for unmarried couples to enter into an agreement, called a Living Together Agreement, or Co-habitation Agreement, when they start living together, stipulating how property, assets or debt should be split if the relationship ends. This agreement can also regulate financial matters during the course of the relationship.
Such agreements are flexible in content but have to conform to certain formalities to make them binding. At Jackson Quinn we will ensure that any agreement conforms to these formalities and is tailored to your specific needs.
Marriage
Even if you are planning to marry, you or your future spouse may have property or assets acquired before you met which you both would wish to protect in the event of a divorce.
At Jackson Quinn we are not pessimistic and do not believe every relationship is set to fail. We do however believe that our clients should be protected and well informed so they can properly make any decision they wish to make.
Whilst the Courts are still not prepared to be bound by pre marital agreements, such agreements have received judicial acceptance in recent years. Judges can at least be persuaded to consider their contents and be urged to follow them but only if the agreement is properly drafted and conforms to certain formalities.
Pre marital agreements are the best form of protection available for any future divorce.
Here at Jackson Quinn we are specialists in these types of matters and our family team can certainly ensure that you have the most protection you can have, no matter how unromantic this may sound. We do hope that recourse to these agreements will never be necessary but if so, it may save a lot of financial worry.
