To protect the interests of those couples who are not married but live together, the lawyers specialized in family law may have legal contracts called cohabitation agreements. A cohabitation agreement differs from a prenuptial agreement as the prenuptial is created in anticipation of marriage.
If you live in United Kingdom are you want to cohabit with your partner then it is a piece of good luck because there are many lawyers that provide you with cohabitation agreement in UK.
It is a misconception that if you cohabit with the person you are in a relationship with, you get the same equal rights as those granted to couples in the marital home. This is a mistake. A cohabiting couple does not receive the same protection under the law as a married couple does. The following are illustrations that highlight the difference:
Separation – if a married couple divorces and thus divides the family assets accordingly, the marital home is normally split into 50/50. Whereas, for an unmarried couple living together, the property goes to the person who owns it.
The death – When a married person dies without creating a valid will, then all they have automatically goes to their spouse or civil partner. However, if an unmarried partner dies, the property belongs to his/her family, not the partner.
In situations like these the vulnerable cohabiting partner will have to go to court to fight for the smallest of assets to try to prove that their property. The Law Commission is considering drafting legislation in this area, but there has been no real change to date. Therefore, couples should protect themselves by using tools such as cohabitation agreements.