Annulment of a marriage
An annulment differs from a divorce; as when the process is complete the annulled couple will be deemed to have never been married. ..link
Cohabiting.
Protecting you and your partner
Many couples live together out of wedlock, some for the tricky trial period 'can we live together without killing each other', some couples choose to live together and don't want to get married, it's hard enough paying a mortgage, the prospect of a £10,000 + wedding as well is scary!
In fact, its getting increasingly popular for us to live with someone out of marriage.
That's great until you find out that living together does not work, well that's okay as you are not married so on a practical and financial level splitting up is simple.....isn't it??
What happens when you split up?
It's not always straight forward, over the years the law, when you are married, has become 'refined' in most cases, who gets what etc has all been taken care of by the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1973, not so for a couple splitting up outside of marriage, for this we must rely on the older laws of property, trusts and chattel.
Quite often these matters can be sorted out amicably outside of court, but some cases do go to court and the judge must decide, property is normally the biggest asset so for this the judge will decide on things such as; how the property was bought, was it as joint tenants or as tenants in common, who paid the fees? has any agreement already been put in place? etc
So no Agreement?
These Agreements are becoming more commonplace, but many couples do not consider it or, if they have, they don't want the cost especially as people believe they will stay together forever. It isn't very romantic to plan and pay for a, 'what if?'.
Property can be complicated, with so many scenarios such as; it was one person's property to start with the other party sold theirs and moved in but they decided to spend the equity on home improvements and a holiday of a lifetime.
Whilst an agreement may not have been set up the judge will look for intent, the couple may have discussed what would happen should they split but never put anything in writing, or the court will look at the relationship and see if any intention had been inferred.
Wish you had an agreement.................?
Verbal Agreements.
This can be useful but is reliant on the recollection of each party, who will give evidence to the judge on their own interpretation as to how assets were to be divided, you can see that its quite rare that a case should get to court and both parties agree, but the judge will take the evidence and try to ascertain the couples intentions.
If there are children involved, their need for a home and their well being will take priority.
What would happen if an agreement was in place?
In the event of a split the agreement will be taken into consideration, at the start a couple that own a property or have assets together should take legal advice and draw up an agreement, and review it periodically, say every 3-5 years.
If you would like to draw up an agreement search for family solicitors in your location, we would recommend that you contact a few firms to understand their procedure and costs.
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