What’s mine is yours, what’s yours is mine

There are some relationship milestones which are easy to remember: your first date, your first anniversary, the resolution of your first argument, the excitement of first moving in together – the list goes on.

One of the milestones that is less clear cut (and probably far less exciting to keep track of) is the moment that your property becomes “relationship property”; when “what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine” becomes a summary of your legal entitlements rather than just a turn of phrase.
This milestone is reached when you get married, enter into a civil union or have been living together as a couple in a “de-facto relationship” for three or more years. After that, there is a baseline presumption that all property that is owned by both partners (whether in joint or separate names) becomes relationship property to be divided equally between partners on separation or death.
There is often confusion about when a de-facto relationship first reaches the milestone of three years. A lot of that confusion is caused by the phrase “living together as a couple”. So, before you start counting the time that has passed since you and your significant other moved in together, let me clarify this idea of “living together as a couple” and what it really means.
“Living together as a couple” is a phrase which encapsulates the idea of mutual commitment and recognises the fact that not all relationships are the same. While sharing a home together may often be a very central part of showing your commitment to one another, it is not the be-all and end-all when it comes to determining if you are in fact in a de-facto relationship. This means that even if you do not live under the same roof you could still be living together as a couple and still qualify as a de-facto relationship with a shared relationship property pool. If you present to the world as a couple, share significant parts of your life together and have done so for three or more years you may be far closer to the milestone of being in a qualifying de-facto relationship than you had previously realised.
As your relationship begins to develop and you approach that three-year mark, it may be worth discussing with your partner how you both envisage your property ownership in the future. You can decide whether you’re both happy with the “what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine” approach or perhaps whether you want to keep some things separate. If the latter option is preferable to you, a contracting out agreement gives you the ability to ring-fence parts of your property to ensure it retains its classification as “separate property” and does not fall into the “relationship property pool”.
The Family Law team at Schnauer and Co Lawyers can guide you through the ins and outs of your relationship property entitlements and can provide assistance in both the drafting and execution of contracting out agreements if needed.

Schnauer & Co, 1 Shea Terrace, Takapuna
09 486 0177 www.schnauer.com


Issue 118 April 2021