Solicitors for cohabiting couples
Protecting your rights
For couples in a cohabiting relationship there is no equivalent process to getting divorced or ending a civil partnership. Contrary to popular belief there is no such thing as a “common law marriage”. Cohabiting with someone does not entitle you to the same legal rights as a couple who are married or in a civil partnership.
You can live with your partner for many years and still have no rights over a family home that is in your partner’s sole name. Cohabitant’s rights are patchy and complex and in the event of a dispute the law can be uncertain and difficult to apply.
Importance of cohabitation agreement
It is important to ensure that your rights are protected if you are planning to live with your partner, particularly if you intend to buy a home together. If you are planning to buy a home with your partner, you may enter into a cohabitation agreement or have a deed of trust drawn up (or have both).
The circumstances in which you might want to have a cohabitation agreement, or a trust deed are as follows:
- You will both be contributing different shares to the purchase of your home and you want to be clear on what share in your home each of you will hold.
- You have children from a previous relationship or are planning to have more children.
- You want to agree in advance who will pay for certain debts or bills.
- You want to protect loans or gifts from the bank of “mum and dad”.
Our family law partner Saika Alam is a qualified Collaborative Family Law lawyer which means that in the right circumstances she can assist you in reaching a negotiated settlement outside the court process. Saika is also accredited by the Law Society and is on the Advanced Family Law panel.
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Examples of our experience
Representing a professional footballer in a Schedule 1 claim brought against him by his former partner.
She was seeking housing provision for their son substantially above what was reasonable, taking account of our client’s income and capital. Obtaining a court order and setting up a trust for the child that protected our client’s capital. That capital had to be paid back to the client when the child attained the age of 18 or completed full time education.Representing a mother in very protracted proceedings where the father represented himself.
He had refused to take legal advice, had refused to acknowledge the mother’s share in their home and had refused to put the property on the market for sale. Obtaining a court order for the sale of the property with a direction that half of the sale proceeds be paid to the mother. In addition, obtaining an order allowing the mother to keep a proportion of the father’s share of the sale proceeds to invest in a new home for herself and their children until the last of the children attained the age of 18 or completed full time secondary education. -
Memberships and Accreditations
Our family lawyers are members of Resolution. We also have experts who are on the Law Society’s Family Law Advanced Panel.
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Complimentary Consultation
If you would like to find out more about how our team of specialist family and divorce lawyers based in London can support you then please get in touch.
You can book a complimentary 30 minutes consultation session with our friendly and knowledgeable Head of Family Law, Saika Alam. In the session, Saika will learn more about the challenges that you are facing and talk through how we can help.
We understand that it is so important that you get to speak to your divorce and family lawyer before you make any kind of commitment to use them. You need to get to know your divorce and family lawyer as much as we need to get to know you. That is why we do not make a charge for your initial consultation with us.
Contact Us
Saika Alam Partner - Head of Family Law
+44 (0) 20 7851 0110
