Pre-Nuptial Agreements / Cohabitation Agreements: Family Law Solutions

Parties who are not married to each other can chose to regulate the outcome of their relationship if it is not successful. The reasons for doing so can be numerous:

A substantial difference in the income or assets of one party
To protect assets you acquired before the marriage
Your family contributed to your assets

Pre-Nuptial Agreements

A Pre-Nuptial agreement is an agreement made between the parties before they are married. It controls the financial outcome of a marriage, should the relationship not be successful. It can save a lot of time, stress and money if the parties reach this point.

Clients should be aware that this type of agreement is not enforceable in court as they are not legally binding. However due to their popularity more and more judges are relying on them to ascertain what the parties had decided if the marriage failed. Top

Cohabitation Agreements

A Cohabitation Agreement is an agreement made between parties who are planning to cohabit and want to regulate their living and financial arrangements. This can detail their current situation and what would happen if the relationship failed.

However it has the same problems as Pre-Nuptial agreements in that they are not legally binding in the UK. What causes further difficulties is that there is no law governing cohabitation and the parties must rely on the general laws of contract.

At FLS we actively encourage clients to be proactive about their future and these types of agreements go a long way in protecting their future stability. Top