Cohabitation Agreements

In business, people spend a lot of time looking forward to making money, when the arrival of this money depends on many factors outside their control. One factor that is within their control is the legally binding agreements that they can enter with other parties such as business partners and vendors. Therefore, anyone who aspires to success in entrepreneurship spends many hours poring over legal agreements that will only become profitable if factors beyond their control, in addition to the matters indicated in the agreement, go their way. In business, so many things are a matter of chance that businesspeople do everything they can to leave as little as possible to chance. In marriage, though, the couple’s financial situation also depends on matters beyond the parties’ control. Spouses operate on unspoken assumptions about who will keep what if the couple divorces, often making the divorce more painful than it would have been if they had signed a prenuptial agreement. Couples who break up after a common law relationship, where they lived together without being legally married, are at least as financially vulnerable as couples who get divorced. If you and your partner already live together or are planning to move in together, you should sign a cohabitation agreement. For help drafting a cohabitation agreement to protect your property rights in a common law relationship, contact a Mississauga family lawyer.

A Prenup for Common Law Couples

If a common law couple breaks up, Ontario law determines what happens to their property. This means that you keep the assets to which you own the title, and your ex keeps the assets in his or her name, no matter how much money each partner contributed to the other’s property. If there is a major difference in the parties’ incomes, and you lived together for at least three years, you might be entitled to support payments from your ex for a few years.

If you and your partner sign a cohabitation agreement, it can not only prevent conflict during your relationship, but it can also protect your property rights. These are some important things to mention in your agreement:

• Which partner continues living the couple’s house after the breakup
• Equalizing payments for assets titled in one partner’s name but to which the other partner contributed financially
• Support payments
• Which partner keeps the couple’s pets
• Responsibility for debts incurred during the relationship

How to Make Your Cohabitation Agreement Official

You can draft a cohabitation agreement with or without hiring a lawyer, but you and your partner must sign it in the presence of witnesses, and the witnesses must also sign the agreement. The best way to ensure that the agreement will work the way you want it to is to have a lawyer draft it for you or review it.

Contact Zagazeta Garcia LLP About Property Division in Common Law Relationships

A family lawyer can help you protect your property rights in a common law partnership.  Contact Zagazeta Garcia LLP in Mississauga, Ontario to discuss your case.

Source:

bestlawyers.com/article/ontario-common-law-relationships-rights-responsibilities/7146