Living together and property rights

[hockeyforjockeys]

DP and I have decided to move in together. He will be moving in to my flat that I own by myself (I inherited the money used to buy it). I also have a decent amount in savings and own another property. My question is does he have any rights to my flat or any of my money if we split up? Both of us want to get married in the next few years, but we don't fell quite ready yet which is why we are just living together. Until we actually make that commitment I don't want him to have any rights over my money if we split up. However if I was to die I also don't want him to be slung out of my flat if we are still together (at the moment it would go to my parents). Is there any way of making him the main beneficiary of my will without it being used to try and get money out of me if we split up?

I know it sounds like I have massive doubts about this - I really don't and 99.9% trust DP to not try and claim anything if we split up. It's just that I have the idea of protecting yourself and trusting nobody when it comes to money drummed into me by my mother.

Any help much appreciated!

Nothing he can do if you split up. Just make that will.

I like your mother!
All your property is your own unless you marry and then it gets complicated! Pre nups are not enforceable at them moment and you can will what you like to whoever you like!

my friend had to remortgage her house because when she split with her dp he claimed 50% of the equity. Court ruled in his favour even though he only contributed to the food shopping for about 4 years.
She was a single mother working through her nursing degree at the time fgs.
I was under the impression that you should go to a solicitor to prevent this from happening from the start.
When i had a boyfriend live with me we had a rent book and he had his own (unused) room.

Be careful. If you split up and it gets nasty, he could potentially try to argue that he has contributed to your flat and deserves some of the equity. The courts have tried to make it more difficult for people who are not named as legal owners to get beneficial ownership of property, but there is always that risk.

Sadly, I think your mother has a point. You never know how even the nicest of people will react if things go wrong. It needs to be made crystal clear from the outset that your property is your property, it remains in your name only and the assumption is that the legal and beneficial interests are yours and yours alone. If he ends up paying the utility bills,contributes to the mortgage or does some decorating/repair work both of you must be very clear that this is not done with a shared intention that he gets an interest in your property.

I can't see how he would ever have an argument that you should pay him money from your savings, unless you have a child and he ends up looking after him/her. But the flat could be different.

will he be paying you any kind of rent? If he will then he could claim if you split. When I bought a house with my ex I had a legal document drawn up which he signed to say that if we split up (we did) I would get the deposit I put down on the house back. I made sure I got a percentage of theequity so that any rise in the value of the house was recognised.

When we split he tried to get 50% but thankfully I had the law oon my side!

Too much scare mongering is put about re this situation. Fact is you can take whatever you want from him towards the bills. Just have it recorded in writing that he knows he's not getting an interest in the house for all that he pays you.

Thanks for the advice. So what do people think - would having a conversation about it be enough, or do we need a legal document drawn up? If so how would we go about this (don't have a solicitor as the one I used to buy the flat was a twunk and my parents live in Scotland so theirs is no use)?

sneezecakes - I think most mns would love my mum, she takes no prisoners!

Hockey
I love your Mum too sounds just like mine ! And she is giving you great advice.

Intrigued to know what your partner thinks as can't see any evidence of his stance in this thread. Does he have something to sell ? Is he in rented ? Whatever, seek legal advice on this one. Good solicitors normally come through word of mouth in my experience so ask around.

First point of call the CAB obviously.

I wish you well !

theoldbrigade - not actually had any conversation with DP yet about the whole legal/financial situation as we only decided yesterday, so we've had the ooh how lovely stuff so far, now we need to have the difficult conversation. I just want to have all the info before we do so I can propose something sensible. Also can't tell my mum until we have dicussed as I know what her first comment will be if we don't!

He is renting at the moment and doesn't own anything. He also has a reasonable amount of savings, although not as much as me. As far as finances goes I am going to propose that we put equal amount of money into a joint account to pay for the mortgage, council tax, utilities and food shopping. Any mantainence costs for the flat would be continued to be paid for by me (just renovated the place so hoping it won't be much!). He earns a bit more than me, but I've been able to afford this on my own so far (just!).

Didn't realised you had a mortgage. thought you bought it outright from your inheritance.

If you want to survive any break up without him making a claim you must have some evidence of the agreement to split the bills, and the fact that he is not thereby acquiring an interest in the property.

I don't agree there is too much scaremongering about this kind of situation, in fact I think there is far too little.

It is horrible to think about things going wrong when you are just starting out and in love etc, etc but things do go wrong and the last thing you want is to have a broken heart and be facing a claim from embittered ex for a percentage in your flat.

So discuss it, get it all out in the open and record in writing.

I agree that things should be brought in to the open, but too many people h e the misconceived notion that it's easy to claim a share of your cohabitee's house when the reality is it's damn difficult. I'd rather scare those who remain in a relationship thinking they'll be ok if things turn sour then realising they're out on their arse without any redress. There are even dome who think it's the law that if you live with someone for so many years then you get a % of their house. Very alarming. The Dept of Justice has recently put out to consultation a change in the law.

We found a living together agreement online and completed and signed that. Not sure how legally binding it would be but it clearly stated our intentions in the event of splitting up.

collaborate, I agree that more pain is caused to those (usually women) who think that they get an entitlement simply by being in a relationship and then found out they get nothing, but everyone who cohabits needs to be aware of the need for clarity and openess right at the beginning of a relationship, whether you are the one bringing the money in or not.

It might be difficult for someone to succeed in a claim to a share of the beneficial interest, but that doesn't necessarily stop them from making an application and lining up months of stress and possibily irrecoverable costs.

I think Sancerre's solution sounds good. It's one way of getting your common intention out there and proof that you did discuss it.