Help! Before Common Law

[proactive]

If Girlfriend and Boyfriend want to buy a house together and girlfriend has a lot more assets than boyfriend (mutual funds, GICs, RRSPs), what steps should she take to protect these assets in case of relationship breakdown? Are receipts/confirmation slips adequate? Is a prenupital agreement appropriate in this case? For definition of how the house is divided on breakdown of the relationship before 3 years of cohabitation has passed, is this something we should see a family lawyer for, or does this fall under some other area of law?

[logicalvelocity]

proactive,

for a small fee, it would be best to have a prenupt drawn up to protect each parties investment in the home. The home would be jointly owned but per say one party invests more than other to obtain, they could lose out their invested share.

As far as RSP's GICs, they are not subject to division and remain to be the parties own.

lv

[proactive]

Thanks, Logical Velocity. Does signing a prenup in any way make us Common Law, or would we still have to cohabitate for 3 years? Our goal is to remain not Common Law up until we decide to formally get married (which is expected to be go or no go within 3 years). Our situation is fairly basic in that we just want to agree to split proceeds of the house evenly and discourage each other from attempting to access each other's savings and pensions or seek support in the event of separation. Would the $50 prenup agreement on Jeff's page acheive this? Are there resources or contract templates available that pre-Common Law couples can use to draft an understanding without including marriage clauses?