The numbers of unmarried cohabiting couples continue to increase, with the result that the law and practice relating to this area continues to grow in significance for family and private client lawyers. This new edition of Cohabitation: Law, Practice and Precedents has been extensively revised to take account of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 and includes a new section on welfare benefits, as well as analysis of significant case law such as the Supreme Court’s ruling in Jones v Kernott.

Whether preparing a cohabitation contract or ante-nuptial agreement, drafting wills for cohabiting couples, advising on rights on the breakdown of a relationship or the death of a partner, or applying for a personal protection order or a parental responsibility agreement, practitioners will find authoritative analysis of the applicable law and expert guidance on procedural issues.

Cohabitation: Law, Practice and Precedents is the only work on the subject to provide commentary, checklists, procedural guides and precedents in a single volume making it an invaluable aid to all practitioners advising unmarried couples. This new edition comes with a CD-ROM containing all the precedents covered in the volume.

What's new in this edition

• Takes account of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 
• New section on welfare benefits
• Analysis of new significant case-law such as the Supreme Court’s ruling in Jones v Kernott

Essential reading for

• Solicitors and Barristers practising in both family and private client law
• Family mediators
• Accountants
• Financial advisers

Helen Wood District Judge, North Eastern Circuit
Denzil Lush Senior Judge of the Court of Protection
David Bishop Solicitor 
Ashley Murray Barrister and Recorder, Northern Circuit
John Eames Barrister and Judge of the First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber

• Property
• Cohabitation Agreements
• Taxation of Unmarried Couples
• Personal Protection 
• Children 
• Death and Succession
• Pension Rights of Cohabitants
• Ante-nuptial Agreements
• Cohabitation and Welfare Benefits
• Miscellaneous
  

The ease with which a couple can opt for cohabitation, consciously or by default, belies the complexity that often attends the termination of their relationship.
In many respects legislation has provided safeguards and remedies that place cohabitants in a similar if not identical position to those who are married or in a civil partnership. In other important respects, notably property and financial provision, there has been a reluctance to do so.

There are public policy arguments about the importance of marriage and the family for society, and counter arguments that point out that nearly half of all children are born outside marriage and the law should reflect the realities of family life in the 21st century.

Further attempts to legislate for inclusivity for cohabitants have been abandoned. As far as rights over property are concerned, these remain rooted in land law, equity and trusts. There is little or no discretion and the end result can often appear unfair.

The outcome of litigation can never be certain, and in disputes between cohabitants this is especially so. Many expensive arguments could be avoided if only cohabitants could be persuaded to take appropriate advice at the outset, whether as to beneficial interests on the purchase of the
shared home or by the formalisation of agreed terms in a properly drafted cohabitation agreement.
The advice that cohabitants need reaches into all aspects of legal practice.

This book provides a clear and authoritative exposition of the law, both contentious and non-contentious, with guidance on practice and procedure, precedents and checklists. It will be an invaluable reference for all those advising at every stage of a cohabitation relationship.

Eleanor King
High Court Judge, Family Division

Previous Editions

"There is all the armoury for practitioners to advise unmarried couples ... contains precedents for almost any situation"
ALC Newsletter


“A very good buy ... not just for family lawyers"
New Law Journal

"set out in a helpful and clear format ... the style is clear ... There is no doubt that the authors have provided a 'clear and authoritative exposition of the law', as the Foreword suggests. It is both comprehensive in its range and thorough in its detail, succeeding in elucidating an often complex area of law and offering the busy practitioner a helpful guide to the procedures and practicalities involved in advising and acting for their cohabitant clients"
Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law

"From its first, pioneering, appearance nearly twenty years ago, Wood et al continues to raise its game through each successive edition.  With the additions of Judge Eames, a foreword by Judge Eleanor King and a new section on welfare benefits, all contributing to a 23%-plus increase in size, this one is well worth the extra fiver over the 4th (1999) edition.  As before, the idea is that ‘prevention is better than cure’ (Preface). The main raison d’etre of a new edition is, of course,  to take advantage of developments since the previous one and this is seen  from Rebecca  Probert’s  ‘Introduction’  all the way to  ‘Miscellaneous’ via ‘Law and Practice’, ‘Cohabitation Agreements’ (still  not ‘Contracts’?), ‘Taxation of Unmarried Couples’, ‘Personal Protection’, ‘Children’, ‘Death and Succession’, ‘Pension Rights and Cohabitants’, ‘Ante-Nuptial Agreements’  and ‘Cohabitation and Welfare Benefits’....Accurate accounts of the current law –  together with  its precedents – have always  been the hallmark of this work which,  in recent editions,  has also become  more accessible and contextual. But it as a classic law book that it triumphs. Matters are clearly, logically and comprehensively described with helpful  headings and sub-headings"
CHRIS BARTON
Emeritus Professor of Family Law, Academic Door Tenant at Regent Chambers  and a Vice-President of the Family Mediators Association

The aim of this book is to assist practitioners when dealing withthe particular requirements of those who are neither married nor in a civil partnership.

A lawyer will usually only be consulted when a relationship is either in difficulties or at an end.  It is at this stage that myths as to entitlement to property and financial provision may have to be exploded. This is so especially in relation to property where there remains very little statutory protection for cohabitants and uncertainty abounds.

The approach of this book is that 'prevention is better than cure'.  It is divided into ten sections, including a new section on welfar benefits. Each sets out the the substantive law and, where appropriate, precedents and procedural guides. As such it is multi-disciplinary, enabling practitioners to advise clients fully at all stages of a cohabitation relationship, and on every aspect.

The law is as stated at 1 November 2011.