Cohabitation Agreement — Word & PDF Template

This cohabitation agreement helps an unmarried couple living together record how they share their home, finances and possessions. It records who owns what and what the couple intend to happen if the relationship ends. Each partner should take independent legal advice, and a court may still look at the couple’s actual contributions and any children’s needs.

Who is this template for?

It is intended for unmarried couples living together, or about to move in together, in England and Wales. Use it to set out financial arrangements for a couple who are not married or in a civil partnership.

What does the template include?

The agreement is organised into clearly numbered sections:

• Important notice — explains the nature and status of the agreement.
• Parties — identifies the couple.
• Date of cohabitation — when they began living together.
• The shared home — owned by one or both, or rented, with joint tenants or tenants in common shares declared in signed writing.
• Financial contributions to the home — who pays what.
• Personal property and assets — individual belongings.
• Savings and investments — how these are treated.
• Debts — responsibility for liabilities.
• Children — children’s arrangements are left to family law and any parenting plan or court order; the agreement does not override any duty to maintain a child.
• What happens if the relationship ends — what happens to a rented or owned home, a sale or buyout of a jointly owned home (with a court application for sale if no agreement in 6 months), and joint accounts and debts.
• Review — revisiting the agreement.
• Independent legal advice — tick boxes recording whether each partner took independent legal advice.
• Governing law — England and Wales jurisdiction.
• Signatures — execution by both partners.

Easy to customise

The template works in Microsoft Word, Google Docs and LibreOffice. Fill in the highlighted fields, set out your financial arrangements and remove anything that does not apply.

Format and scope

Supplied as an editable Word (.docx) file and a PDF, formatted to A4. Written in plain British English with light, general references to England & Wales law.