Similarly, financial agreements (FA’s) are contracts drawn between a couple about to enter a de-facto relationship (whereby a couple live together but aren’t married).
In March of last year, amendments were made to the Family Law Act which subjected de-facto couples (heterosexual and homosexual) to the same legal repercussions as married couples in the event of a relationship breakdown.
"Each party [in a de-facto relationship was thus] responsible for the debts they bring to the table and... leave with the assets they brought in," writes financialagreements.com.au
So apart from a marriage certificate, what then legally separates married couples from de-factos? And as lines between the two become blurred, where does it leave them? Will it promote marriage? Or discourage people from moving in together?
Instead of waiting to get married before moving in together, people used de-facto relationships as a way of trialling marriage. Crosswalk.com states that "the number of marriages preceded by cohabitation rose from about 10 percent in 1965 to over 50 percent by 1994." Could those days be fading too?
Or more importantly, does Generation Y even care [yet]? According to financialagreements.com.au, "issues about dividing property... might not concern a younger couple, but many older established couples who may have significant assets or children from an earlier relationship, may enter cohabitation a little more cautiously."
What I have noticed though is that people my age who support the idea of financial agreements and pre-nups are often accused of being pessimistic - but I think they’re just being realistic. And realistically, shit happens. As R.P. Emery and Associates puts
Love, Noeline
xox
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