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f you are a couple who is marrying, thinking about marrying or simply buying a home together, a cohabitation agreement is a useful way of protecting you and your partner’s reasonable expectations in the relationship while safeguarding your financial autonomy and independence.

Many couples today are choosing to live together without getting married, after already being married and divorced, with children from another relationship, adopted children and other mixed family situations. In Canada, provincial and federal laws treat relationships (and the obligations that stem from them) differently, depending on whether they are marriages, common-law partnerships and whether children or other dependents are involved.

Couples who are buying a house together, joining or commingling their assets or otherwise co-habiting are often not aware of the effect that family laws can have on their individual situations in the event of a death or a separation. Couples who start living together later in life may also prefer to keep their assets segregated or only partially combined due to their retirement or estate plans.

Fortunately, Ontario laws allow couples who wish to maintain a certain level of financial independence and autonomy to organize their lives in a manner that they consider fair and reasonable. Specifically, couples can agree on a variety of issues, including:

• Being partly or fully financially independent of each other;
• Deciding what assets to share, what assets to exclude and how to divide their wealth in cases of a separation, death or disability;
• Agreeing on a plan for sharing major expenses;
• Keeping their debts separate;
• Having separate or mutually compatible wills or estate plans;
• The education, upbringing and parenting of their current or expected child(ren).

Under the Family Law Act spouses who are married to each other or live common law may enter into an agreement, called a “domestic contract” which allows them to agree on their respective rights and obligations in the event of a separation or if one of the spouses dies. This means that you can create your own set of rules of how you share assets and what occurs if you separate or one of you dies.

Top Five Reasons for Getting a Co-Habitation Agreement

1. It gives you and your partner the freedom to choose the rules that govern your relationship and obligations in the event of a separation, divorce or death.
2. It gives you and your partner the flexibility and autonomy or arranging your financial affairs without having to rely on the default provisions of legislation or case law.
3. It can help you protect assets which you have accumulated over many years and which may be a significant part of your retirement plans.
4. It allows you and your partner to fairly resolve appropriate rules and mechanisms in the event of a breakup and to do so in the absence of the emotional strife and anxiety that can blur perceptions of fairness during a separation.
5. An agreement can serve as a permanent benchmark during you and your partner’s lifetime together. It can set the parameters of your legal obligations and provide peace of mind giving you and your partner knowledge of how your financial affairs will be resolved if certain contingencies occur.

Robert Mysicka has extensive experience drafting marriage, co-habitation and other domestic contracts for business owners and also providing independent legal advice for marriage contracts. Robert guides clients in deciding on the important provisions to include in their agreement based on their unique financial circumstances.

For more information on co-habitation agreements contact Robert Mysicka