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27 Living Together and Your Rights if You Separate

Download Living Together and Your Rights if You Separate (PDF File | 999kb)

1 Introduction

2. Why is living together different from being married?

3. Setting up home

4. Making a ´living together agreement´

5. When you are living together

6. If you or your partner dies

7. State benefits for people living together

8. Tax matters

9. Pensions

10. If you split up

11. Arrangements if you have children

12. Sorting out the home

13. Sorting out other items you own

You should try to sort these things out between you - mediation can help.

The legal position is broadly as follows:

• If you paid for something, you own it, unless you gave it to the other person as a gift.
• If you bought something together and split the cost equally, then you own it jointly and equally.
• If you bought something out of joint funds so it is not clear who paid for what, you own it jointly and equally.
• If you bought something together and did not pay the same amount, you own it in the shares in which you contributed.
• If you have both pooled your money in a bank account, you own half each unless you have made an agreement about having unequal shares.

Unless you can agree about the things you own jointly, you might have an expensive battle that could cost far more than the things themselves are worth. You cannot get legal aid to pursue this type of claim.

Financial support
As unmarried partners, neither of you has the right to claim maintenancefrom the other person for yourself. You may both agree that one of you will pay maintenance to the other if you think this is fair. If you want to make such an agreement legally enforceable, you can write it in the form of a deed.

If you are looking after your children, you can claim maintenance for the children, but the court will not allow you extra maintenance for yourself as part of the sum.

14. Dealing with emergencies

15. Terms used in matters to do with living together

16. Further help

17. About this leaflet

This leaflet is published by the Legal Service Commission (LSC). It was written in association with Imogen Clout, a solicitor specialising in family law.

Latest version: August 2006