When a married couple gets divorced, they can take advantage of California divorce law to decide who gets what property. If the parties want more control over their assets, they can form a prenuptial agreement or postnuptial agreement. However, unmarried couples living together in California cannot take advantage of these same laws. Instead, you can form a cohabitation agreement to help you and your significant other decide what property goes with which party and how to divide shared assets.
Legality of Cohabitation Agreements in California
Cohabitation agreements are essentially agreements that state what happens to property when you and your significant other move in together. Unmarried couples or even roommates could potentially write agreements like this to determine who will take shared items when they move out, how shared costs will be divided, and what property you keep as separate, individual property. In many ways, these agreements are similar to prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. Married couples similarly use these agreements to decide from the outset what will happen to your shared property upon divorce.
Courts and lawmakers were historically hesitant to allow cohabitation agreements. First, they thought that allowing these agreements would encourage people to live together without getting married. Second, courts saw these agreements as using sex as a part of the agreement, whereby the parties would agree to live together and have relations in exchange for keeping certain property. Today, courts are far more mature and understand that these agreements are more about protecting property rights and ensuring fairness.
These agreements typically have full legal effect as long as they are valid contracts. This means that each party must sign freely and willingly. Coercing or forcing someone to sign will usually invalidate these agreements, as will fraud or lies that convince the other person to sign an agreement they would not have otherwise signed. Failing to disclose your full assets and property could also be problematic in one of these agreements.
