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My girlfriend and I have been dating for 1.5 years and in a few months are planning on having her move into my home. Through a lot of saving and hardwork, my home was fully paid for a couple of years ago (at age of 33) and needless to say I am proud of this and want to protect it in the event of a breakdown down the road. In addition I have substantial savings – about ½ in RRSP and ½ in non RRSP accounts and I have a high savings rate so in ten years I expect my savings to be to the point where I should be able to retire early.
I am in Alberta and have read up on the Adult Interdependent Act as much as I could online. A little more about us – we both do not want kids (this will not change) and neither of us have any desire to get married. I make about twice what she makes but she has no trouble supporting herself at all and is in a stable career. We talked about the living arrangements and we both agree that is fair that she pays for ½ of the utilities, ½ of the cable and the same amount she is paying now for renters insurance as my home policy would cover her contents as well. All told she will pay me about $200 per month.
Currently she is paying near $1500 to rent an apartment, so financially for her it is a good move and on the face of things I feel it would be extremely unfair for someone to get access to a $400,000+ asset for a few hundred $’s a month especially when they are saving a considerable amount in the arrangement. I specifically want to exclude her paying any of the property taxes, major maintenance, etc – anything directly related to owning the house. I imagine she would help with minor maintenance though such as the gardening and painting. Household duties would be 50/50 since we both work part time. We have talked about buying new furniture (about $4000 total) and will split the costs of that and have discussed that in the event of a breakdown, the party keeping the furniture would give the other party the other half.
So my four questions are:
1) Given the fact that we will not marry down the road and that property one owns at the time of entering into a common law relationship remains in the hands of the original owner, is it necessary to have a cohabitation agreement? I can’t envision any scenario where I would be unjustly enriched given the mortgage is paid off and she is only contributing for ½ of utilities, cable and contents insurance. Given how the Act is worded in my mind an agreement doesn’t add any security.
2) The same question as 1 applies to my investments. I will be funding my own investments 100% and not contributing to a spousal RRSP but only my personal one. Is she entitled to what I have today or what I will have x years from now?
3) Although unlikely, if we wanted to purchase a new property, we would sell the home and use proceeds for a new property. Would this then be considered communal property? It would be very clear and easy to tell that proceeds of sale on the home were used to fund the new purchase.
4) If the answer to 1 is yes (needing a cohabitation agreement), can this be drafted by the two of us or is a lawyer necessary?
I am in Alberta and have read up on the Adult Interdependent Act as much as I could online. A little more about us – we both do not want kids (this will not change) and neither of us have any desire to get married. I make about twice what she makes but she has no trouble supporting herself at all and is in a stable career. We talked about the living arrangements and we both agree that is fair that she pays for ½ of the utilities, ½ of the cable and the same amount she is paying now for renters insurance as my home policy would cover her contents as well. All told she will pay me about $200 per month.
Currently she is paying near $1500 to rent an apartment, so financially for her it is a good move and on the face of things I feel it would be extremely unfair for someone to get access to a $400,000+ asset for a few hundred $’s a month especially when they are saving a considerable amount in the arrangement. I specifically want to exclude her paying any of the property taxes, major maintenance, etc – anything directly related to owning the house. I imagine she would help with minor maintenance though such as the gardening and painting. Household duties would be 50/50 since we both work part time. We have talked about buying new furniture (about $4000 total) and will split the costs of that and have discussed that in the event of a breakdown, the party keeping the furniture would give the other party the other half.
So my four questions are:
1) Given the fact that we will not marry down the road and that property one owns at the time of entering into a common law relationship remains in the hands of the original owner, is it necessary to have a cohabitation agreement? I can’t envision any scenario where I would be unjustly enriched given the mortgage is paid off and she is only contributing for ½ of utilities, cable and contents insurance. Given how the Act is worded in my mind an agreement doesn’t add any security.
2) The same question as 1 applies to my investments. I will be funding my own investments 100% and not contributing to a spousal RRSP but only my personal one. Is she entitled to what I have today or what I will have x years from now?
3) Although unlikely, if we wanted to purchase a new property, we would sell the home and use proceeds for a new property. Would this then be considered communal property? It would be very clear and easy to tell that proceeds of sale on the home were used to fund the new purchase.
4) If the answer to 1 is yes (needing a cohabitation agreement), can this be drafted by the two of us or is a lawyer necessary?
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