Hungry for more?! Subscribe to Notes from The Pathway Legal Pack for tasty morsels of wisdom!

A joyful candid group photo of the full Pathway Legal team laughing and hugging outdoors under autumn trees with golden fallen leaves, capturing the warmth, diversity, and genuine connection of the Pathway Legal pack in Fall 2026.
Request Consultation >
Call 778-557-5099

Cohabitation Agreements in BC: Set Your Own Terms Before the Law Sets Them for You

What a cohabitation agreement covers, what makes it hold up, and how to get one done properly.

Moving in together is exciting. It is also the moment BC family law starts paying attention to your relationship, whether you planned for that or not.

A cohabitation agreement is how you and your partner decide the rules yourselves. This page covers what one can do, what it cannot do, what makes it hold up if it is ever tested, and how the process works from first conversation to signatures.

The short version

  • A cohabitation agreement is a written contract that sets your own rules for property, debt, and spousal support if you separate.
  • Without one, the Family Law Act decides for you once you become spouses under BC law.
  • It cannot decide child support or parenting arrangements in advance.
  • To hold up, it needs to be in writing, signed, and witnessed, with full financial disclosure and a genuine, pressure-free choice by both of you.
  • Each of you should have your own lawyer. It is the single best protection against a challenge later.

What is a cohabitation agreement?

A cohabitation agreement, also called a common-law agreement, is a written legal contract between two people who live together, or plan to, in a marriage-like relationship. It sets out how property, finances, and responsibilities are handled during the relationship, and what happens if it ends.

Think of it as the owner's manual for your shared life. You and your partner write it together, before the rules get written for you.

Why it matters in BC

Under BC's Family Law Act, you do not need to be married for the law to treat you like you are. Once you are spouses, the same rules for dividing property and debt, and for spousal support, apply to you as to a married couple.

  • After two years of living together in a marriage-like relationship, you are spouses for everything, including property and pension division.
  • If you have a child together, you are spouses for spousal support once you are in a marriage-like relationship, with no minimum time. Property division still waits until two years.
  • Child support has no threshold. Every parent owes it.



Our guide to common-law marriage in BC walks through when this status starts, what counts as marriage-like, and the deadlines if you separate.

What can a cohabitation agreement cover?

  • How real estate, savings, investments, and personal property are divided if you separate.

  • What stays separate, including property you each brought in and any growth in its value.
  • Debts from before and during the relationship.
  • Gifts, inheritances, and family heirlooms.
  • How you share household costs and major purchases while you are together.
  • Spousal support: whether it will be paid, how much, or for how long.
  • What happens to your pets.
  • The process you will use to resolve disagreements if you separate, such as mediation before anyone goes to court.



You and your partner choose the terms. That flexibility is the point.

What a cohabitation agreement cannot do

  • It cannot settle child support in advance. In BC, an agreement about child support is only binding if it is made after you separate. Children have a right to support that parents cannot sign away.

  • It cannot lock in parenting arrangements for the future. Agreements about parenting time and decision-making are only binding once you separate or are about to. The test is always the child's best interests at that time.
  • It cannot guarantee a result a court finds significantly unfair. More on that below.

🐾 Ask Journey, our ambassador

Journey is our beacon of hope and care, and she hears the questions families are almost too nervous to ask out loud. Here are the ones that come up most often when couples are thinking about a cohabitation agreement.

ASK JOURNEY

We have only been living together for eight months. Is it too early for a cohabitation agreement?

No. Early is the best time. The two-year mark for property division has not arrived yet, so you are setting the rules before they apply instead of rewriting a financial picture that has already grown together. If you have a child together, you may already be spouses for spousal support, which is another reason not to wait. The conversation is also easier when there is less at stake emotionally.

Who benefits most from having one?

Almost any couple moving in together can benefit. A cohabitation agreement matters most when one or both of you bring in real estate, a business, investments, significant savings, or children from a previous relationship. The more you each have to protect, the more it matters to put the terms in writing before the law creates its own version by default.

The real cost of skipping it: a client story

Cameron and Lisa each owned successful businesses. Cameron also owned real estate worth considerably more than Lisa's assets. Knowing the relationship was rocky, Cameron wanted a cohabitation agreement in place.

Instead of working with a lawyer, Cameron downloaded a template online. When he presented it to Lisa, he told her to sign it or leave. Lisa signed without getting independent legal advice. Cameron believed he had saved himself some money.

Years later, they had two children and separated. Cameron's real estate had grown dramatically in value. Lisa challenged the agreement in court, arguing she had been pressured into signing, that she did not understand it, and that having children had changed their financial situation.

After a lengthy and expensive trial, the judge upheld the agreement. Texts and emails showed Lisa had negotiated the terms, and her earlier sworn statements confirmed she had understood it. Cameron won, but the fight cost him far more than a properly drafted agreement would have.


The lesson: if you are going to have a cohabitation agreement, do it properly. Getting it right costs a fraction of defending it in court.

Ready to get yours properly drafted?

A Pathway Legal consultation gives you a clear picture of what your agreement needs to cover and how to do it right. Backed by our money-back guarantee on the initial consultation fee.

pathwaylegal.ca/request-consultation.html | 778-557-5099

What makes a cohabitation agreement hold up in BC

BC courts want couples to be able to rely on their agreements, so the bar to overturn one is high. It is not unreachable. These are the things that decide whether an agreement stands:

In writing, signed, and witnessed

The Family Law Act protects a written property agreement where each of you signed and each signature was witnessed by at least one other person. One person can witness both.

Full financial disclosure

Failing to disclose significant property, debts, or other relevant information is one of the most common reasons an agreement gets set aside.

Independent legal advice

Not a strict legal requirement, but it is the strongest evidence that each of you understood what you signed and chose it freely.

Genuine understanding

A court can set aside an agreement if a spouse did not understand its nature or consequences.

No pressure or unfair advantage

A court can step in if one spouse took improper advantage of the other's vulnerability, need, or distress. "Sign or leave" is exactly the kind of fact that invites a challenge.

Even a well-made agreement can be tested for fairness

A court can also set aside a property agreement that was made properly if it has become significantly unfair. The court looks at how much time has passed since you signed, whether you were both aiming for certainty, and how much you each relied on the agreement.

This is why an agreement signed at 30 may need a fresh look at 40. Children, a new home, a business, or one partner stepping back from work can all change what is fair.

ASK JOURNEY

Do we both need our own lawyers, or can one lawyer help us both?

You each need your own. One lawyer cannot advise two people whose interests may pull in different directions. Separate advice is what shows, years later, that each of you understood the agreement and signed it freely. In the Cameron and Lisa story, the missing advice is what opened the door to a long trial. Independent legal advice is not expensive friction. It is what makes the agreement stick.

Why a template is a risky shortcut

Online templates look convenient. In practice, they often miss what BC law requires, leave disclosure undocumented, and use language that was never tested against your situation. Those gaps can cost you everything the template was supposed to protect.

A lawyer drafts around your circumstances, makes sure disclosure is complete and recorded, confirms each of you is choosing freely, and handles the signing and witnessing properly. The goal is an agreement that holds up, not one that merely exists.

How the process works

  1. Start with a consultation. Each of you meets with your own lawyer to talk about what you want to protect and what the law would do without an agreement.
  2. Exchange financial disclosure. Income, assets, debts, and anything else relevant, shared in writing.
  3. Draft the agreement. One lawyer prepares the first draft based on what you have discussed together.
  4. Review and negotiate. The other lawyer reviews it with their client, and both sides work out any changes.
  5. Sign and witness. You each sign with a witness, and each lawyer confirms the independent advice they gave.

Give yourselves time. An agreement rushed through in the week before a move or a wedding is easier to challenge as signed under pressure.

ASK JOURNEY

How much does a cohabitation agreement cost?

It depends on how complex your finances are and how much negotiation is involved. An agreement between two people with straightforward finances costs less than one involving a business, significant real estate, or children from earlier relationships. In almost every case, doing it properly costs a fraction of defending a weak agreement later. A consultation with one of our lawyers will give you a realistic picture for your situation.

Review it when life changes

A cohabitation agreement reflects your life on the day you sign it. When something significant changes, such as having a child, buying a home, starting a business, or one of you leaving work, revisit it to make sure it still says what you both intend.

The best time to create a cohabitation agreement is before you move in together. The second best time is now.

ASK JOURNEY

We are getting married. Does our cohabitation agreement still work?

Often it can carry forward, but do not assume it. Many agreements are written to continue after a wedding, and some are not. Have your lawyers review it before you marry and update it into a marriage agreement if needed. It is a much simpler job than starting from scratch, and it means the document still matches the life you are building.

What if your partner pushes back?

Pay attention to the reaction. A cohabitation agreement is not a sign of distrust. It is a sign of maturity. It means you value the relationship enough to protect both people in it.

Verbal promises like "I would never go after your assets" are sincere in the moment. They are not legally binding. Clarity now prevents conflict later, whether your relationship lasts a lifetime or ends in a way neither of you expected.

ASK JOURNEY

My partner thinks asking for a cohabitation agreement means I do not trust them. How do we have this conversation?

Frame it as protection for both of you. The agreement does not assume the relationship will fail. It assumes two adults deserve to know the rules before they share a life. Try asking: if our situations were reversed, would you want clarity? Most people say yes. The discomfort is usually about what the conversation feels like it implies, not what the agreement does. If your partner stays firmly opposed after a calm conversation, that tells you something about how money decisions will be made in the relationship.

Where to go next

Common-Law Marriage in BC ›

When common-law status starts, what counts as marriage-like, and the two-year clock if you separate.


Independent Legal Advice ›

What independent legal advice involves and why it protects both of you.


Division of Property ›

How family property and excluded property work when there is no agreement.


Spousal Support in BC ›

Who qualifies, how amounts are estimated, and how agreements affect support.


A cohabitation agreement is not a bet against your relationship. It is two people choosing clarity together. We help couples put these agreements in place in Victoria, Nanaimo, Vancouver, and Surrey, and by video anywhere in BC.

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Family law is fact-specific and the law changes. Reading this does not create a lawyer-client relationship with Pathway Legal. For advice about your situation, consult a qualified BC family law lawyer.