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Originally Posted by ken0042
Let me give a bit of a silly example to get across what I'm saying.
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Seven months later she is tired of me leaving the toilet seat up, and decides to leave me. Because we have been living together for more than 6 months, she is now entitled to half of my stuff. This is due to the current "common law" marriage laws.
Now, if we had gotten married it would be a different story. But I didn't decide that I wanted to be married.
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Actually, all of that is incorrect.
The "common law" partner, is not entitled to 1/2 your stuff, and it doesn't matter if you lived together 6 months or 6 years.
Nor is the "married" partner entitled to 1/2 of what you brought into the relationship.
The issue, in both instances, revolves around benefits received or accrued over the course of the relationship. Married partners get an automatic presumption of 1/2 property division (but which exlcudes assets you had before the marriage). That presumption is open to attack in the courts.
As for the common law partner, they get nothing, unless that partner proves you've been unjustly enriched because of the relationship, to their detriment, without good reason.
If you let your girlfriend move in with you, even rent free, be careful. If she's doing the domestic tasks, she's probably accruing an interest in your real estate, even if she's not paying rent. The lack of rent payments will be taken into account, as will the actual quality and quantity of her tasks, but look out.