Cohabitation / Living Together
Increasingly couples are choosing to live together for extended periods of time rather than marrying. The longer the relationship the more likely it is that a couple will be linked financially, often buying a house together and combining financial resources in other ways.
The law for cohabiting couples is not straightforward. Contrary to popular belief there is no such thing as ‘common law marriage’ and in fact, cohabitants are faced with civil rather than family law remedies.
It is important when buying a property to consider carefully the way in which the property is owned and to ensure that this reflects your respective financial contributions.
We can provide advice prior to or during a couple's cohabiting relationship and can draw up a Cohabitation Agreement which sets out what would happen if the relationship broke down. This provides certainty to both parties.
If your relationship has broken down we can provide specialist advice about the remedies available to you.