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How to Make a Living Together Agreement Making sense of the law and your rights Contents What is a Living Together Agreement? 3 Why should we bother? 4 When to make a Living Together Agreement 5 How to make a Living Together Agreement 7 What to put in your agreement checklist 8 Living Together Agreement template 21 Budget helper 36 Who is this guide for? If you are living with your partner and aren’t married, this guide is for you. It explains why having a Living Together Agreement is a brilliant way to protect yourself and your partner, and then shows you how to do it – quickly and easily. All cohabiting couples should make one. It only takes most people an evening to discuss everything and 15 minutes to write using our agreement template. There are other Living Together Agreement or Cohabitation Agreement packs available, but this is the easiest to use, most comprehensive, and is completely flexible so that you can use it to confirm whatever agreements work for you. How to make a Living Together Agreement www.advicenow.org.uk 2 • What is a Living Together What is a Living Together Agreement? Agreement? A Living Together Agreement (or An agreement that sets out what Cohabitation Agreement or No-Nup would happen if you did split up isn’t agreement as it is sometimes called) an admission that you think you will, is simply a record of what you have anymore than taking out building agreed about how you will own and insurance means that you think share things. It encourages you to your house will fall down. In fact, think about easy and fair ways to it can strengthen your relationship organise your day to day finances by helping both partners to feel and ensures that if your relationship more secure. ended, neither of you would lose out financially – unless that is what you had agreed. Joe’s story When we bought a flat together my girlfriend suggested I paid the mortgage and she paid all the other bills (which ‘‘ ‘‘ added up to the same). We’d been doing that for a year when my mum mentioned she thought that would mean I had more right to the flat than my girlfriend. We both knew that wasn’t fair, so we made a Living Together Agreement to sort it out. How to make a Living Together Agreement www.advicenow.org.uk • 3 Why should we bother? A Living Together Agreement helps you Couples who haven’t made a Living to discuss and agree how you will pay Together Agreement usually find that for things like the rent or mortgage, they have very different expectations of and household bills. In doing so, it can what should happen or ideas of what is Why should help you to avoid the kind of arguments fair. For couples who have been together we bother? and minor worries that can build up a long time, it’s hard to even remember over time or that might cause difficulties who contributed what, let alone what in the future. you said about it at the time. But when it really comes in useful, As unromantic as it seems, making a is if you were to split up. Obviously we Living Together Agreement is actually a all hope that we’re not going to split up, loving thing to do. It protects both but unfortunately, some couples do. yourself and your partner from Unmarried couples have few rights or unfairness and unpleasantness in the protections if it does all go wrong, no future, just in case. matter how committed to each other they were, or how long they have been together. (If you have children together, there are some things the law can help with, but not many). Instead, couples have to try and work out how to divide their property, money and belongings on their own – when they are usually heartbroken or angry and not feeling terribly fair. Sandra’s story We had lived together for 7 years when things fell apart. I moved out and stayed with friends. I suddenly had no ‘‘ home, but what was even harder was not having anything! Everything stayed in the flat with Adam and I was so ‘‘ emotional, the last thing I wanted to do was go round and start trying to negotiate or take legal action. It all took months and eventually I ran out of energy. He ended up keeping everything basically. He was supposed to buy me out of the house, but I ended up settling for a lot less than half. He wasn’t trying to be unfair, it was just the circumstances. As long as I had to keep going back I couldn’t move on. How to make a Living Together Agreement www.advicenow.org.uk 4 •
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