When you are married, everything is regulated in legislation – almost down to the smallest detail. But if, on the other hand, you live with your girlfriend, there are only a few rules that you can rely on. In this article, you can read more about some of the most problematic situations in a cohabitation annulment.
When you live in a cohabitation relationship at a shared residence, you are not spouses, but only unmarried cohabitants in the sense of the law.
Unmarried cohabitants differ from spouses in that there is no automatic change in the financial position between the parties or the right to inherit from one another when you move in together. The parties in a cohabitation relationship do not have community property, but the parties each own their own assets and dispose of them alone. In addition, you are only liable for your own debt and not that of the joint supplier. You can easily own an object in joint ownership. This could be, for example, that you buy a new sofa, where you share the cost. Then one party will own 50% of the sofa, while the other party will own the other 50% of the sofa.
When terminating cohabitation, one must be aware that, in general, maintenance or compensation cannot be demanded for a lopsided division of joint expenses during cohabitation.
Below, there is a bit about the most problematic things when cohabitation is terminated.
Car
- If the parties have bought a car together and taken out a joint loan, then a solution must be found for what should happen to the car.
- If you have taken out the loan together, both parties are liable for the debt.
- If a party wants to take over the car, you should make sure that the loan is also taken over together with the car.
Rental property
- If you have lived together for at least 2 years and have had a relationship of mutual financial dependence, you can agree upon dissolution of cohabitation which of the parties shall have the right to continue the tenancy of the rental property, the one that has served as the couple’s shared residence. If no agreement can be reached, a judgment can be made on the right to continue the tenancy.
- If both parties are employed as tenants in the lease, you can only terminate on your own behalf. You cannot therefore demand that the other party be thrown out of the apartment.
Real estate
- If only one party owns the property, then that person has the right to change the locks and ask the other party to move out.
- If both parties own the property and you have not entered into a co-ownership contract over the property, then the property must either be transferred entirely to one party, or both parties must sell the property. Proceeds from the entire property will have to be divided equally at a sale.
- If one party does not want to sell his share of the property or to take over the other party’s share of the property, a problem arises. Most buyers do not want to buy 50% of a property where another person lives. Therefore, the joint ownership of the property must be dissolved instead. If the parties own more than the joint property together, then the probate court can help dissolve joint ownership of the property. If the parties only own the property together, then the joint ownership must be dissolved by a letter to the other party, and the property can be put up for voluntary auction through the bailiff’s court.
Do you need advice or help to move forward? Then contact us today on +45 5663 4466 or write to us at kontakt@dslaw.dk
By associate attorney Mette Tarp Pedersen
