UK Family Law - Cohabitation And What It Really Means For Your Partner And You

Within England there exists a growing trend among couples to live with each other despite the fact that they are not married or joined as a result of a civil union. Often this can be simply because an official partnership is likely, but it might also be because they really feel they do not need to be joined by law in order to prove their commitment to one another. No matter what the reason, adults living together must know that they don't have the exact same legal rights as those who are in a lawful union.

Although people that live together could have heard the term 'common law marriage' and think that it applies to them, they would be mistaken. Family Law throughout England doesn't recognise common law marriage, meaning that cohabiting couples have got significantly fewer rights than husbands and wives and civil partners, should anything were to go wrong with the relationship, or perhaps one of them were to die.

Cohabitation and Property
Due to the fact moving in with each other is basically an emotional decision, a lot of couples do not entirely appreciate the consequences and likely challenges that could be linked to cohabitation. There's a couple of ways in which pairs can look after their legal rights when acquiring a property, just in case the partnership fails to work out.

Exactly How Cohabitation Has An Effect On Finances
By means of being married as well as civil unions couples are given a specific degree of legal protection in regards to their financial situation in the event the union comes to an end. They can in most cases expect to collect their share of the shared assets, and may even be given maintenance on a continuing basis. That isn't the way it is with cohabiting partners.

Parental Rights & Cohabitation
Anytime a lawfully married couple have a baby they are both acknowledged as the mother and father of the child and therefore enjoy all of the accountability and legal rights which come with that. When it comes to cohabiting individuals, the daddy is going to have absolutely no legal rights to the baby except if he's there whenever the birth is officially documented, or the appropriate records and documents are provided that will establish he is the father.

Cohabitation Agreement
A growing number of partners are opting to work with our Divorce Solicitors in Bristol to set up some sort of cohabitation agreement in order to help avoid possible problems with property plus finances. Some partners may even opt to do this right after they have broken up, however when this happens the agreement is just like a regular separation agreement.

There has been a review of the particular laws and regulations regarding the break down of partnerships involving cohabiting couples and it is more than likely that we're going to see some sort of improvement in a lot of these laws and regulations some time soon.