Before You Combine Your Finances, Have You Compared Your Expectations?
Do you both have the same understanding of what will happen financially once you start living together?
Most couples talk about money at some point. Fewer discuss in detail what they expect to remain separate, what they intend to share and how they want to manage their financial responsibilities together.
One person may prefer to keep most finances separate. The other may expect income and expenditure to become more closely combined.
From my experience as a family lawyer, those different expectations are worth discussing before they become part of your day-to-day arrangements.
What Should You Consider?
How household expenses will be divided
Whether savings will remain separate
How mortgage or rent payments will be managed
How major purchases will be treated
What each of you considers individually owned and jointly owned
A cohabitation agreement can provide a framework for recording the arrangements you reach.
It can deal with property, household expenditure, possessions and other financial matters so that your intentions are clear.
Why Can This Be Useful?
There is no single financial arrangement that suits every couple.
In my experience, the important issue is that both people understand what has been agreed.
Preparing a cohabitation agreement gives you the opportunity to discuss those expectations openly and record the decisions you have made together.
That can be particularly useful where your incomes, financial commitments or approaches to money are different.
Are you moving in together and considering how your finances should be structured? Elizabeth Stocker is a consultant solicitor specialising in family law and cohabitation agreements. She can help you understand the issues worth considering and put the appropriate arrangements in place.
Family Law Through Life, Relationships & Change
Get in touch for a confidential discussion.
