What is a cohabiting couple?

A cohabiting couple is defined as two people living together who are not either married or in a civil partnership.

What are my rights as a cohabiting couple?  

Cohabiting couples do not have as many rights are married couples or civil partners. When you separate or your partner dies there are different laws in place, regardless of how long your relationship lasted.

Finances:

If you or your cohabiting partner share the family home, unless the property is in joint names the court may decide that you have no beneficial interest in it unless you can show that you have contributed significantly to the house, this can include contributing to the mortgage or contributing to the deposit, but this may not be the determining factor.

Cohabiting couples do not have automatic rights to their partners pension, unlike married couples and civil partners.

Children:

If you have children with your cohabiting partner, you may be entitled to maintenance from them. You can use the child maintenance calculator to see how much you are entitled to and this can be found here. You may also be able to ask the court to provide you with housing if you have become the primary carer of the children/child.

If the court decide that as the primary carer you can stay in the family home, this will only apply until the youngest child turns 18 years old.

When deciding what financial provisions for children to grant, the court will take into account many factors for example any disabilities the children have, school fees or educational expenses and the financial positions of each parent.

Unmarried fathers do not automatically gain parental responsibility of the children. However, if the children are born after December 1, 2003 and if the father is named on the birth certificate, they will have parental responsibility.

Recent updates.

The House of Lords’ Women and Equality Committee have recently written a report about the risk that women suffer when leaving a cohabiting relationship. The Committee have called for the government to legislate an opt-out cohabitation scheme. This Committee also support the Law Commission’s 2011 report which laid out proposals for cohabiting couples to be able to claim against their partner’s estate on death.

The report asks that clear guidelines on how pension schemes should treat the surviving partner when claiming the deceased partners pension. The report asks that the inheritance tax regime be reviewed, so it is the same for cohabiting partners, spouses and civil partners.

How can I protect myself?

A Cohabitation Agreement can be prepared to ensure finances and assets are secured. This will set out what is to happen if you split up.

If you would like to read further about cohabitation agreements click here to read one of our previous blogs.

If you would like to know more about a Cohabitation Agreement or would like advice on how to protect yourself when in a cohabiting relationship, contact us and ask for a free 30-minute consultation with one of our specialist solicitors.