What can I do to protect myself (With New Partner)

[Xplaya]

Been seeing my partner on and off for a year or so now (We have a child together), I am living in my own house with flatmates, and she her own. (Obviously we spend times over each others etc).

Anyways, moving forward I am planning on purchasing a house, and because our relationship would be considered fresh, is there anything I can do to protect myself for the future if we split?

From my understanding, we are in a de-facto once we start living together? (Which would likely happen once / if i get a home)
If that is true, can a de-facto be considered just like a marriage? So if we split after 2 years or so, she is elgible 50% of the property automatically?

[Nick G]

Hi there

Go speak to a lawyer about this stuff. You have a child so your relationship is different and even if you separated you'd be likely on the hook for child support (as you should be).

[Keys]

You are already in a de-facto. You have a child together.

[Rosco]

As others have said, get some good legal advice. Ideally from someone who specialises in Relationship Property.

Things you could discuss further with them
- can I keep my current house separate? If so, what do I need to do to keep this as separate property and not have it included as relationship property?
- relationship property agreement is normally the safest, and can be done to protect you both.
- How to keep things even. For example you sell your house, buy a new family home. This family home would be relationship property long term. BUT, she keeps her house as a rental, you have no involvement so possibly that would be her separate property with you have no rights to it. Overall all yours is relationship and all hers is separate - Actually this is exactly how my wife views our income and assets !
- Trusts - generally they won't help a lot as you are already in a relationship. And even if before relationship, a house in a Trust could still be viewed as relationship property

Ross

[DIY Donz]

Having just been through this with my partner, get to a lawyer asap. The de-facto relationship does not simply rely on when you start living together or if you have a child together. It is a grey area. I would also like to make you aware that if you don't contract out of the relationship contracts act before the 3 years have passed your partner is entitled to 50% of what is yours but even if you both agree that this is not what you want then their lawyer may decline to sign the document based on their belief that it is unfair and unreasonable to their client. We started the process fairly early on but it dragged on beyond the 3 year mark and it was only then that my lawyer told me that this was highly likely. The reason it dragged on was partly our fault, but also every time I saw my lawyer they changed the contract so then it had to go back to my partner for review. My lawyer even tried to add another clause after we'd had feedback from my partners lawyer - needless to say I made her remove it as it was just getting ridiculous. What we thought would be a relatively straightforward process actually proved to be quite challenging - and we both agreed with what we wanted to do. I hope it goes smoothly for you both.

[harmonist]

Being in a defacto relationship doesn't mean your partner is entitled to 50% of what you own, they're only entitled to 50% of the relationship property, they can't touch anything that's been kept separate like a rental property for example, however if you were to pay for a relationship item out of the rental account for example that rental property would all of a sudden become defacto property so its quite hard to keep it all separate, as said above a relationship property agreement is the way to go, definitely see a lawyer.

[Cpt707]

...your last sentence implies that a property owned by a Trust prior to a new relationship commencing can become a 'relationship' property..??? So a Trust for the purposes of combating the "gold Diggers" of the world is a waste of time and just another legal rip-off..????

[Rosco]

...your last sentence implies that a property owned by a Trust prior to a new relationship commencing can become a 'relationship' property..??? So a Trust for the purposes of combating the "gold Diggers" of the world is a waste of time and just another legal rip-off..????

It depends on the exact circumstances. But yes a Trust isn't guaranteed to protect you!

Ross

[PTcruza]

I know quite a bit about this area but probably can't say anything here.

One question is how does the value of your property compare with hers? If they are similar, you'd probably both want a Rel Prop agreement, and that might be the way to approach it.

But generally speaking, you're treading on treacherous ground. Beware of lawyers! They will try to spin it out as long as possible, as DIY Donz reports.

PM me if you like.