LIVING WITH YOUR PARTNER? WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT COHABITATION.

 

LIVING WITH YOUR PARTNER? WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT COHABITATION.

 

Cohabitation is when parties live together in a domestic relationship. Such relationships are not given the same legal consequences as a marriage.

When parties marry or enter into a civil union, reciprocal duties of maintenance and support arise. The parties may also inherit from each other intestate (where no valid will exists). In a life-partnership, the position of the parties differs with regards to maintenance and inheritance.

INHERITING INTESTATE

While parties to a life-partnership may inherit intestate, a life-partnership will need to be proved. In proving a life-partnership, a number of factors, such as: the duration of the relationship; the nature of the relationship; the support that parties gave to each other; co-habitation; intention to marry; how the relationship is perceived by third-parties; will be considered.

MAINTENANCE

Parties to a life-partnership are typically not entitled to be maintained by one another, but such rights may arise, for example, in terms of a contract where the parties agree to the creation of such obligations.

A surviving partner in a life-partnership may also have a claim against the estate of the deceased partner, in terms of the Maintenance of Surviving Spouse Act.

 

COHABITATION AGREEMENT

When parties choose together without marrying or entering into a civil union, they may still wish to regulate certain aspects of their relationship. They can do this by entering into a Cohabitation Agreement. A Cohabitation Agreement is an agreement that sets out the legal obligations and rights of the parties to the relationship, during and after their relationship. It can regulate various aspects of the relationship such as expenses, maintenance, property, children and even which party will keep the pets if the relationship ends.