Cohabitation- Partnership- French PACS

There are other forms of conjugality than marriage. You can choose to live with your partner without any vows or contract: you will be cohabitees. You can have a contract in the form of a civil partnership or if you are French based in the UK your PACS (Pacte Civil de Solidarite) will produce effects here.

Cohabitation agreements

There is a common misconception that unmarried couples have the same financial rights against each other on the breakdown of the relationship as married or civil partnered couples do. No, if you live with your partner without being married or without having signed a partnership contract, you have no financial entitlement. The only entitlement would be if you and your partner have bought a property together.

Because you have no financial rights when you are in a cohabitation relationship, it is very good to plan for the future and to sign a cohabiting agreement when you start living with your partner. The duration of cohabitation is irrelevant. There are no ongoing financial obligations towards each other.

There is a growing idea in England for cohabitees to have financial rights close to married couple but the reform is not for today and you should be aware of the fact that you do not have any inheritance rights, any rights to receive maintenance or a lump sum payment. There is no tax relief between cohabitees.

I know that discussions about cohabitation (like marital contracts) can be sensitive but it is always better to plan in advance how you and your partner would see the future. A cohabitation agreement is a legal document regulating your rights and interest in many ways such as if you have inherited or been gifted already, to regulate the financial contributions between you and your partner to your joint property, or when your partner moves in your property, or when your partner intends to make a financial contribution to your sole property…

A cohabitation agreement will give you security and will help you save legal costs for the future. You will be able to organise in advance the proportion of contribution to your living costs, how you will divide chattels and furniture in case of a permanent breakdown of the relationship, to regulate how the liabilities will be met. A cohabitation agreement will also allow you to ring fence assets and protect claims on a property.

A cohabitation agreement is signed by your partner and you and also by the solicitors advising you independently.

If you do not have any cohabitation agreement and own a house with your partner, your claim will be linked with the property. You will need to check first the title of the property to see if the property is owned jointly or in tenants in common. If the property is owned jointly, you and your partner both own 100% of it. If the property is held as tenants in common, you will each own a percentage of the house. If there is no declaration of trust, you will own 50% of the property.

Upon permanent breakdown of your relationship, you may be entitled to bring a claim under the TOLATA (Trust Of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996). The court will look at your joint common intention when you purchased the property. These proceedings are very formal and costly, you should take legal advice as soon as possible because it is very often possible to negotiate and to come to a financial agreement.

If you own a property with your partner and you have children together, it may be wise to use the Schedule I of the Children Act 1989 to settle your separation as you may be entitled to remain living in your joint property until the children have finished your education. You can also have the use of a property that will return to the other parent when the children are 21 years old. You can consult the Children matters service page for more information.

Partnership

Partnership act is dated 2004. It came into force on 5 December 2005 and originally it was only for same sex couples. The law for the marriage was amended in 2013 and form July 2013, we have same sex marriage in the UK. Because marriage was open to same-sex couples, the partnership act was amended and from 2 December 2019 opposite sex-couples have been able to enter into a civil partnership.

The only difference today between a marriage and a civil partnership is that the marriage is formed by vows and can be performed in a religious ceremony before signing a marriage certificate whereas civil partnership is formed by signing a civil partnership certificate.

The financial claims are the same whether you are married or whether you entered into a partnership.

French PACS

Your French PACS will produce stronger effects in England than in France. Your PACS will automatically be seen as an English civil partnership here. There is no registration to do in England.

If you have a PACS and you are habitually resident in England, you will be entitled to maintenance, lump sum payment, transfer of property, share of your partner’s pension. You can inherit from your “paces” in England

You should not dissolve your French PACS (jointly or unilaterally) without taking first legal advice. You should also take advice before returning living in France as the French rules will apply automatically upon your return: no maintenance, no lump sum payment…

Please feel free to contact me. I am here to help you.