the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 jmkes significant hew procpvisipn for cohabitants.i c&p as opposed to narrative post
Scottish secure tenancy different provision to England re transfer tenancies. If a cohabiting partner was living in the house as his or her only principal home throughout the period of 6 months ending with the tenant's death he or she must get the tenancy. The tenancy can be succeeded to surviving cohabitant
Mental health care and treatment
Where a person has, or is perceived to have, a mental disorder they can appoint someone including an adult carer to represent them, this person is called a "named person". A nearest relative is appointed where there is no named person or adult carer available and they have the same rights as a "named person". A cohabitant who has lived with the person for at least 6 months or, if the person is in hospital, had been living with them for 6 months before the admission to hospital can be the nearest relative.
After the 2006 Act
The Scottish Parliament decided that the law should be updated to reflect the way families live today and that any rights that already existed for cohabiting couples but were restricted to opposite sex couples only should now be extended to include same sex couples. This has been done by the 2006 Act.
The 2006 Act also provides a set of basic rights for cohabitants whose relationship ends covering:
the sharing of household goods, bought during the time the couple lived together. This means that if you cannot agree about who owns any household goods, the law will assume that you both own it jointly and must share it or share what it is worth;
an equal share in money derived from an allowance made by one or other of the couple for household expenses and/or any property bought out of that money. It is important to understand that this does not apply to the house that the couple live in;
financial provision when, as a result of the decisions the couple made together during the relationship, one partner has been financially disadvantaged. This means, for example, if the couple decided that one partner would give up a career to look after their children, they can ask the court to look at the effect that decision had on that partner's ability to earn money after the relationship has ended;
an assumption that both parents will continue to share the cost of childcare if they had children together; and
a right to apply to the court for an award from the estate (property)
if their partner dies without leaving a will. Before this, if a cohabiting partner died without leaving a will the surviving partner was not entitled to anything from the deceased partner's estate. Sometimes this meant that they had to move out of the house they had lived in together. The surviving partner will now be able to ask the court to consider giving them something from the estate. If the deceased partner was still married at the time of death, the spouse will still be legally entitled to a share of the estate.
These are not the same as the responsibilities and rights that a couple have if they get married or register their civil partnership. Scottish Ministers wanted to protect adults and children when a relationship breaks down, but they also wanted to make sure they protected, as far as possible, the rights of adults to live free of any obligations towards partners if that is what they choose to do.
When someone asks the court to consider making them an award under these rules the sheriff will consider a number of things including:
how long the couple had lived together
what sort of relationship they had (this means was it like a marriage or a civil partnership)
what sort of arrangements they had made about money (for example, did they have a joint bank account and did they support one another).
This will help the sheriff decide whether the person making the application is entitled to get an award under these rules.
There are time limits for making applications to the court for these rights. The time limit is a year from the date the relationship breaks down or 6 months from the date of the death of the partner. If you think you might have a claim for these rights then you should not delay in seeking advice from a family lawyer.