Contracts for cohabitants

The lesson from Hewitt v. Hewitt is that cohabiting parties should form written contracts regarding living arrangements. One simple written document drafted by an attorney could have changed the result of the entire case for Ms. Hewitt.

Although written contracts and wills cannot provide all of the legal benefits of marriage, such as social security benefits based on a spouse’s earnings or loss of consortium based on a spouse’s damages in a lawsuit, an effective attorney can ensure that cohabitants receive most of the legal benefits of marriage.

Contracts can indicate that all assets attained during cohabitation are joint assets, to be divided equally in the event of a break up. Furthermore, written contracts between unmarried couples can establish each person’s services to the household, such as who makes money and who is responsible for household management.

Estate planning is another step that cohabitants should consider to give members of a couple rights to one another’s property and health care in the event of death or serious medical illness. Ordinarily, when one member of a cohabiting couple becomes ill or dies, the other has no right to make serious medical decisions or inherit the other’s estate. Typically, the deceased partner’s estate is left in the hands of his or her family, which can be particularly troublesome when the decedent’s relatives hate the other partner.

Unmarried couples risk ugly battles in the event of death or breakups, with no assistance from Illinois courts unless their relationships are governed by contracts. By drafting contracts and wills, Illinois divorce attorneys and estate-planning attorneys can provide cohabiting couples with most of the legal benefits of marriage.

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