Partner moving in- advice needed please

saltpot

Hi,

There is a possibility that my partner may move in. I got divorced 6 years ago- house now in my name and I pay the mortgage. I have three daughters - 21,18,17- , how do I stand legally if he were to move in? Would I need to see a solicitor? Am keen to protect the inheritance for the girls but wonder whether I need advice on this. Just want to cover myself if , in years to come, we did split up , wondering how it would affect me in terms of his claim of the house.
Thanks

Johnhowell

See a solicitor specilising in family law, draft a cohabitation agreement outlining the conditions if you split. I wish we had such an agreement from the start. You and your new partner need to understand the split of all costs now and on splitting...

Write a will.

Good luck,
John

BitterAndTwisted

Do not accept any money from your partner which could later be construed as making a contribution towards your mortgage payments. So, that means do not charge him rent. Just accept a proportion of utility bills and grocery shopping and be able to prove that was what the money was for later.

Jinx

I once met a lady in a similar situation. She had an acrimonious divorce from hubby number 2 and she told her daughters (all uni age) that she had basically cost them fifty grand each from their inheiritance.... Now I dont think we can live our lives under that premise but some sensible advice wouldnt go amiss.... My hubby and I have a financial agreement which protects the money that we both put into our relationship (I have a 19 yr old) but hopefully we will never need to invoke it!!

Pee

Moving in together is quite early stages in a relationship, by this I mean that you can have a good relationship without living together but when you live together, either it will work well or it won't and talking about what will happen if it doesn't work out and what will happen if it does is important. Getting it all worked out legally is important immediately after that.

You also need to think about what will happen should you die. Is he then expected to leave immediately, after six months, after two years... at some stage would you want him to have a life interest in your house and for it to go to your children after his death? This would make sense once your children were adult and financially settled if he was by that stage maybe retired and less financially able, especially if he gave up work to look after you.