{"id":3350,"date":"2020-10-08T03:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T10:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arwanilawfirm.com\/?p=3350"},"modified":"2020-10-07T08:25:17","modified_gmt":"2020-10-07T15:25:17","slug":"do-you-have-any-rights-if-you-arent-married-family-law-disputes-in-cohabitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arwanilawfirm.com\/do-you-have-any-rights-if-you-arent-married-family-law-disputes-in-cohabitation\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Have Any Rights If You Aren\u2019t Married? Family Law Disputes in Cohabitation"},"content":{"rendered":"

More and more couples are choosing to live together without getting married. In fact, while the US marriage rate has stayed around 50 percent for some time, according to the Pew Research Center, more adults are now living with their partners instead of getting married.<\/p>\n

This is understandably of concern to a number of individuals who have come to depend on their partners and\/or sacrificed their careers for the sake of their relationships, and may be concerned about their futures. This also affects unmarried individuals who have jointly purchased property and assets together, perhaps assuming that if they ever separated, those assets would be shared or equitably split between them.<\/p>\n

The Law in & Outside of Florida<\/strong><\/p>\n

Only eight states explicitly recognize common law marriage in their statutes, with several others recognizing it via case law, and Florida isn\u2019t one of them. This means that if a couple splits up, there is no equitable property division provided for unmarried couples who simply cohabitate. Instead, each leaves with whatever they earned during the relationship, and takes whatever property is titled in their names.<\/p>\n

Still, it is important to note that Florida does<\/em> recognize common law marriages validated in any of the other states that recognize it (Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Texas, Utah), and, in addition, also recognizes any common law marriages entered into in Florida prior to January 1, 1968.\u00a0 This means that any couples who fall into these categories possess the same privileges and rights that spouses do (including for example Social Security, which follows state law).<\/p>\n

Preventing Disputes Through Cohabitation Agreements<\/strong><\/p>\n

Still, this excludes most Florida couples cohabitating together. As a result, some contemplate working with family law attorneys to enter into a cohabitation agreement because, without anything being in writing, both parties are left vulnerable, which not only means no right to make medical decisions for or inherit from each other, but also no legal guidelines concerning how to divide property that both individuals purchased if it is titled in one person\u2019s name only.<\/p>\n

Cohabitation agreements typically look very similar to marital agreements and, at a minimum:<\/p>\n