Postnuptial & Cohabitation Agreements

Postnuptial Agreements (a.k.a. "Agreements to Stay Married")

Are you and your spouse constantly arguing over the same issues?

Has it become difficult to talk to one another?

Are you feeling frustrated that you just can’t seem to make yourself understood?

Many issues stress a relationship.  They can be as significant as behavior that threatens a couple's financial security, or as seemingly mundane as disputes over how to share the household chores. But even in the strongest marriages, misunderstandings and disagreements can, if unaddressed, create disharmony and undermine your relationship. 

If you are experiencing such conflicts in your marriage, mediation can help you and your spouse have the kind of guided conversations that will lead to a greater understanding of each other's needs. Your mediator will help you clarify the issues causing dissatisfaction or unhappiness in your relationship and help you to collaborate on finding solutions.

Working together with the mediator to create mutually satisfying agreements can result in a stronger relationship and less anxiety about the future.

Common issues addressed include:

• Communication
• Intimacy -- or its absence
• Career pressures
• Disparities in income
• Responsibility for childrearing
• Estate planning for children from a previous marriage
• Significant financial changes, such as an inheritance or business venture
• Protecting a business partnership or family business from divorce
• Managing investments
• Managing household finances
• Separating property and debt
• Separate vs. community property
• Provision for financial support in case of divorce

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Cohabitation Agreements

If you and your significant other are living together without the legal benefits of marriage or a registered domestic partnership, even if you intend to stay together for all eternity, you may be wondering what rights and obligations you would have if either of you were to become seriously ill or die or in the event that your relationship ended. 

Or you may be wondering about some of these—and still other outcomes—if you and your former spouse or partner are thinking about maintaining residence together until housing prices rise or other aspects of the economy improve.

Mediation can help the two of you have constructive conversations about these difficult subjects.  With your mediator’s guidance, you can create cohabitation agreements or domestic partnership agreements that specify how you would like to divide your property and debt if your relationship breaks down.  Your agreements also can address your rights and obligations with respect to each other in the event of illness or death.

Common topics for mediation of cohabitation and domestic partnership agreements include:

• Privacy
• Sharing common areas
• Sharing household expenses
• Sharing household chores
• Household guests
• Personal expectations of the relationship
• Financial support during the relationship or on its dissolution
• Hospital visitation rights in the event of illness
• Right to serve as a guardian or to make medical decisions in the event of incapacitation
• Property division & debt allocation on dissolution of relationship
• Right to remain in shared residence if relationship ends