What Are Cohabitation Rights?

In this modern day and age more and more couples are choosing to live together without getting married or entering into a civil partnership. This is called "cohabitation" and there are well over 4 million couples cohabiting in England and Wales as of 2010 and the majority of these couples will severely over-estimate the rights which they have as a couple living together.

What about Common Law Marriage?
Many people mistakenly believe that if they have been living with their partner for a certain length of time, they become automatically become "Common Law Spouses" and have all the same rights as a married couple. This is incorrect - there is no such thing as Common Law Marriage, nor has there ever been.
In some very limited cases people who live together will be treated in the same way as people who are married, for example when calculating housing benefit, in most situations unmarried couples have no rights at all.

What happens when the relationship ends?
When cohabitation ends, either because the relationship breaks down or because one partner dies, things can get very messy. If property and assets are held largely in one partners name or that partner is responsible for most of the household income, the other partner will not be automatically entitled to anything other than their own personal possessions and a share of any goods which were paid for by contributions from both partners.

The biggest asset in most relationships is the family home, and if this is held in your partner's name you may find it difficult to establish a claim to this. Whilst you may be able to get a court order declaring that you are entitled to a share of the property, you will need to prove that you made a contribution to the purchase, maintenance or upkeep of the property and that there was a clear intention that ownership of the property would be shared.

How can I protect myself?
Couples who are cohabiting and who do not wish to get married should consider putting their relationship on a formal basis by taking a number of simple legal steps. Ironically, for people who choose not to marry may find that in order to legally protect their rights as cohabitees they will need a lot more paperwork and formality than a marriage would entail.

1. Create a Cohabitation Agreement
This is a contract which sets out the rights and responsibilities of both parties. A cohabitation agreement will usually include clauses about how household expenses will be paid, how joint property will be held, what interests and rights both partners will have over the family home and how property will be divided up if the relationship ends. It is also usual for cohabitation agreements to make provision for the paying of maintenance or support for children. A cohabitation agreement is a legally binding contract, and its terms can be enforced by a court if there is a breakdown in the relationship

2. Make a Declaration of Trust
Where a couple are living together, the best way to protect their rights to the family home is to register the property in joint names with the land registry and on the title deeds. However in many cases this may not be practical because the property is already registered in one partners name and re-registration could result in fees, taxes or stamp duty becoming payable. In these situations, the couple can create a Declaration of Trust, which is a formal document that states the legal owner of the property holds it on trust for the benefit of themself and their partner in shares which are specified by the document. If the relationship breaks down and there is a declaration of trust in place, either partner can enforce their right to a share of the property through the Court.

3. Make a Will
Where someone dies without leaving a Will they are said to have died "intestate" and any assets which they have are distributed according to a set of rules called the "rules of intestacy". These rules only allow assets to be inherited by people who are closely related to the deceased by blood or marriage. Unmarried partners do not inherit anything and so it is essential to make a Will in these circumstances.

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