Roughly 7 million unmarried couples cohabit in the U.S., and a growing share of them buy property together. The romance of co-owning a starter home is real. So is the legal exposure. Unlike spouses, unmarried partners have no automatic claim to each other’s assets, no presumption of equitable distribution, and almost no statutory protections if the relationship ends. Without a written cohabitation agreement and the right title structure, a breakup can become litigation, and a death can become a forced sale.
What marriage gives you that cohabitation doesn’t
Marriage is, among other things, a bundle of default legal rules. Spouses inherit by default in every state if there’s no will. Spouses can transfer property between each other without gift tax. Spouses have automatic claims to retirement assets, health-insurance coverage, hospital visitation, and — in equitable distribution or community property states — to assets acquired during the marriage. Unmarried partners have none of those defaults. If one partner dies without a will, the surviving partner can be evicted by the deceased’s parents or siblings. If they split, contributions to a mortgage held in only one name may be treated as gifts. Courts will sometimes apply doctrines like “constructive trust,” but enforcement is expensive and the outcomes are uneven.
How title structure changes everything
When unmarried partners buy property, the deed should be drafted carefully. Joint tenancy with right of survivorship means the surviving partner inherits automatically — but it’s also a present transfer of an undivided half-interest, which has tax implications and can be undone in divorce or creditor disputes. Tenants in common allows unequal shares (say, 70/30 reflecting actual contributions) but doesn’t transfer at death without a will or trust. Some couples buy through an LLC, which allows operating-agreement-level control over contributions, distributions, and exit. The right structure depends on contribution ratios, estate plans, and state law. The wrong structure is whichever one the title company picks because nobody asked.
What a cohabitation agreement should cover
A cohabitation agreement, signed before purchase, should specify down payment contributions, monthly mortgage and expense splits, treatment of capital improvements, what happens if one partner can’t pay, buyout formulas if the relationship ends, and survivorship arrangements paired with matching wills. It should also address how appreciation is divided. A partner who put in 80 percent of the down payment but contributed equally to the mortgage may be entitled to more than half the equity — but only if the agreement says so. Drafting cost typically runs $1,500 to $4,000 with a family-law attorney, which is trivial compared to the cost of litigating these questions later. Update it when circumstances change.
Bottom line
Buying property together is a contract whether the couple writes one down or not. The default contract — written by state law and the title company — is calibrated for strangers, not partners, and produces absurd results in disputes. Get the cohabitation agreement, get matching wills, choose the title structure deliberately, and review the package every few years. None of it is romantic. All of it is the price of buying a house with someone the law treats as a roommate.
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