Cohabitation Agreements

What is a cohabitation agreement and how does it work? Cohabitation agreements are generally entered into between a couple who are not getting married or entering into a civil partnership. It will not affect the legal nature of their relationship. Cohabitation agreements usually concern the ownership of a property. However, don’t write it up yourself and scrawl it on a piece of paper – if you really want to protect yourself, it’s best to get a lawyer. If the document is prepared properly, and both parties have legal advice and understand what they are doing, then it is likely that they will be bound by the agreement.   At the very least it will provide powerful evidence of what the parties agreed and understood when they started living together. If one party has been untruthful or put the other under duress to sign the agreement, a cohabitation agreement entered into in those circumstances would be challengeable in court. There’s another reason for why having this conversation with your partner might be awkward: the money chat. In order for the agreement to be valid, you both have to give full financial disclosure, which means that all your cards will be laid out on the table, including any debt that you might not have opened up to your partner about yet. Be prepared and if you can, have this talk beforehand so there are no unexpected surprises.