Did you know the latest Offices of National Statistics (report) says:
- In 2016, there were 18.9 million families in the UK.
- There were 12.7 million married or civil partner (same-sex) families in the UK in 2016.
- Cohabiting couple families were the fastest growing family type between 1996 and 2016, more than doubling from 1.5 million families to 3.3 million families.
- In 2016, 7.7 million people lived alone in the UK and the majority were women.
- In 2016, around 25% of young adults aged 20 to 34 years were living with their parents, increasing from 21% in 1996.
However, research shows that whilst cohabiting couple families are the fastest-growing, they are also less stable than married-couple families. Still, over 25% of people asked thought cohabiting couples had the same rights as married couples when this is not the case. No; there is no such thing as ‘common-law husband/wife’.
Despite this, research as at 2016 only 15% of cohabiting couples had a cohabitation agreement written about their ownership of property and other assets or what would happen to money and property should the relationship break down. Some may say it is ‘cold’ to have a cohabitation agreement drawn up but if you can’t talk about it when all is well with your relationship, it can be even worse when the love has gone.
If you and your partner are setting up home together, we can prepare a bespoke Living Together Agreement (sometimes called a Cohabitation Agreement) that sets out what you both agree should happen if true love does not run smoothly tailored to exactly what you need. There is no fuss, we try to avoid lawyer-speak and we certainly don’t want to step on the toes of true love – just smooth the pathway.
Get in touch with our team of law experts today for more information.