Living Together Agreements

Let us start off by being abundantly clear that a Living Together Agreement is not a Pre-Nuptial Agreement. The two are entirely different. Living Together Agreements have received more attention recently because of a case called Stack-v-Dowden. In simple terms, the Judge in this case got rather cross at an unmarried couple who were arguing over assets when in reality, he felt they should have agreed what to do in the event of splitting up beforehand and thus saved the Court and themselves time and money. If you make a decision to live together, you should really make a decision on what happens if you are no longer living together. Neither is a Living Together Agreement about "this is mine, that's yours, you're not getting that because it belonged to my Auntie (you won't be getting a penny out of me)" otherwise only couples about to split up would ever make them. A well drafted Living Together Agreement can sort out the day to day workings of living together and protect both you and your partner from whatever might happen to your relationship in the future. It is also useful because if you do split up, you can then deal with matters as amicably and as fairly as possible. Please bear in mind, when you do split up emotions may be running high, so if you agreed matters beforehand then it is better fror both of you.

If you are both advised independently and have your Living Together Agreement written by a Solicitor, it should be legally binding and no different from any other Contract. Also you do not have to cover everything in a Living Together Agreement, it is really up to you. You can simply cover the essentials and don't have to sit down and decide who gets the wine glasses, the lawnmower and the like because after all, such an Agreement would be too cumbersome. In any event, if you are purchasing a house or flat together, any property lawyer worth his salt will ask you how you want to own the property, i.e. joint tenants or tenants in common or indeed if you want a Declaration of Trust to cover shares of the property. On any interpretation of fairness, if one party in the relationship is paying all of the deposit and the other party has no deposit monies to pay, then surely it is fair that in the event of parting company, the deposit would be returned to the party who provided it. As Solicitors, we would encourage everyone to make a Will because one thing is certain, none of us are immortal. With a Living Together Agreement, we would hope that couples do not split up but it is inevitable fact of life that some of us will, so there is no harm for being cautious and preparing in advance.

If you would like any advice on a Living Together Agreement or the cost involved, please contact us.

Contacts

• Neil Anderton • neil.anderton@rblegal.co.uk • 01524 410424
• Sarah Carr • sarah.carr@rblegal.co.uk • 01524 39039
• Sara Fletcher • sara.fletcher@rblegal.co.uk • 01524 734884