If you're not married but decide to move in together, you may be unsure about what rights you have as a cohabiting couple. Fortunately, there are steps you can take - whatever your marital status – to make sure you’re both financially safe, so you can make the choice that makes sense for you.
The number of opposite-sex marriages and Wales has fallen by over a third in the last 40 years, that's 21.2 marriages per 1,000 unmarried men and 19.5 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women.
The main thing to remember is that if you move into a house that your partner owns, you have to make sure that any payment contribution you make is recognised. Otherwise, if you break up, or someone dies, you won’t have any rights to the home you created together.
Make sure you have evidence of your payment to any of the following:
Deposit
Mortgage payments
Home improvements (like an extension, or new bathroom)
This figure was higher for couples who had a civil ceremony (90%) compared with those who had a religious ceremony (81%).
According to 2017 data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Although making a will might not sound like the most romantic date in the world, it means you and your partner are looking out for each other in the future.
This becomes especially important if your home is under the other’s name. The only way to make sure you won’t have to move out if they die is if a will shows you to inherit the home.
Will Aid is a partnership between the legal profession and 9 of the most popular charities. Every November, a group of solicitors agree to waive their fees in return for a voluntary donation to Will Aid.
Find out more on the Will Aid website.
A co-habitation agreement (or "no-nup" agreement) written up sounds daunting. But put simply, it’s a record of who owns what or how you share things with your partner. Setting up some guidelines around property, money or belongings now could really help in the future should anything happen.
You can find out more about what a cohabitation agreement covers, and how to go about setting one up, on the law society website.
Having a joint account could simplify money management and help keep track of what's coming in and out. It can also help simplify things should one of you die, with the surviving partner retaining access to funds in the joint account.
The key is to consider how you would use a joint account. Does it make practical sense to merge accounts? Perhaps a joint account for expenses works but retaining individual accounts helps provide a sense of financial freedom.
You own the property together and ownership is passed on automatically to your partner if you die. This does mean that ownership cannot be transferred to anyone else in your will.
You can own different shares in the property. This means that unless the property is left to you in your partner’s will, you won’t automatically be entitled to the property if they die.
