After reading NWSO's post and subsequently reading the February 23rd NY Post article I was quite intrigued.
Apparently "The number of unmarried couples living together shot up 88 percent from 1990 to 2007, according to the US Census Bureau." according to the article. I had no idea that many couples lived together without the benefit of marriage. The more I thought about it though the more it made sense to me. 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce and many people get married for the wrong reasons to begin with so there is no wonder why people are afraid to take that marriage plunge.
With so many couples living together without being married it does leave them pretty vulnerable legally. Many a couple have squabbled over who gets the bedroom set, who gets the couch, who ends up with Fido, who pays what bill and so forth. It can get pretty nasty. Many states don't have provisions in place to protect couples that are not married. Hence the advent of the pre-prenup or the cohabitation agreement or as some call it a "cohab".
The more I thought about it the more it makes sense. If I were living with someone and we both put our all into building a home together you bet I would want to make sure my rights were protected.
These agreements can be formal and drawn up by an attorney or they can be as informal as a mutually agreed upon email.
I think this is a really great idea. If I ever decide to "shack up" with someone in the future (not that I am looking to do that) I will surely lay out in no uncertain terms who gets what and how things should get divided.
What do yo think? Would you ever draw up a "cohab"?
