Priced out of Court!

Another article about the pitfalls of living together rather than getting married.

This is not to be judgmental about whether to marry or not to marry, but rather to flag up how sensible it would be if you are in a cohabiting relationship, to draw up an agreed document which records what would happen if you were ever to go your separate ways.

When there is a serious dispute between cohabitees, there was available the last resort of making an application for the Court to declare their beneficial interest in a property they don’t own but have made a substantial contribution towards. Or it could be that the property is in joint names, but does not accurately reflect one party’s greater contribution than the other’s which they want to be compensated for when they leave.

From this April the Court fees for such applications have increased fifty times to £10,000 per application. This effectively means that unless you are dealing with a very large money case, hundreds of thousands of pounds instead of the usual tens of thousands involved in a typical cohabitee dispute, you are blocked out of seeking any legal remedy. Very few solicitors would recommend gambling as much as £10,000 to see if you would win.

The options of cohabitees are therefore even more limited. It is not cynical or cold hearted to plan for the future when you are living together. It is just sensible housekeeping to draw up a cohabitation agreement that would be insurance against the future if the need arises.

Monday, July 6th, 2015 Cohabitation