Contributed post
When you’ve been dragged by the hair through a rough divorce, it can make you rethink a lot of things and make you want to protect everything that you have left. This can include anything from the furniture that you managed to take with you when you left the marital home, to the job that you’ve just landed in your new hometown because you had to move away from the one you loved.
When you were married, it’s likely you protected your finances the best way that you knew how, but trusted your spouse with your finances. A divorce can knock your confidence right down, so when you embark on a new relationship, it can be very easy to be protective over the assets that you still have in your name. While you may not yet be thinking about protecting these, you should as soon as the question about moving in together comes up. You need to know what your rights are and how to go about those rights.
Common Law Myths
Cohabitation with a new partner can be all you’re ready for initially, but you could be under the impression that living with your new partner for a few years makes you ‘married’ under common law. Your assets aren’t protected as if you were legally married, despite popular belief. When you spend years together without getting married, you both put a lot of wealth and money into the relationship, and without marriage or a legally binding defacto financial agreement, you could find yourself in some hot water if one of you breaks up the relationship. You won’t come away with anything – no matter how much cash you put in.
Pen To Paper
You need to be smart. You’ve been divorced once, and you know that a legal agreement such as a prenup is a good idea if you have assets to bring to the relationship. Cohabitation agreements are now being taken more seriously by the courts than they have before, and this means that you can choose to put your asset and wealth split on paper without the commitment of getting wed. It may not be the most romantic thing to do, but it’s pretty romantic to be on the same page and know what you want from the relationship as a couple.
Starting a new relationship has its own pressures, but you’ve heard the phrase, “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” and you should live by that for your new relationships. There are things that you need to consider and protecting yourself should be the first thing that you look to do when you fall in love again. It doesn’t mean that you’re expecting the relationship to fail, it just means that you want to make sure that you aren’t going to be hurt anymore than you need to if you split up. Divorce can put you through the ringer, but it doesn’t have to continue to damage your wealth in the future.