More couples than ever build lives together without marrying — buying homes, raising children, mixing finances across decades. What most do not realize: Florida gives unmarried partners almost none of the legal protections marriage provides. No equitable distribution, no alimony, no elective share, no automatic say in a partner’s medical crisis. Florida abolished common law marriage in 1968, and no length of cohabitation creates marital rights here. The cohabitation agreement is how unmarried couples write their own protections — and it is far more enforceable than most people assume. The Law Office of John Vernon Moore, P.A. brings over 89 years of combined experience to protecting Brevard County families in every legal configuration.
The Legal Vacuum Unmarried Couples Occupy
When a marriage ends, Chapter 61 distributes property equitably, considers alimony, and provides process. When unmarried partners separate, none of that applies: property belongs to whoever holds title, regardless of who paid; joint property partitions under ordinary co-ownership law; a partner who spent twenty years supporting the household has no support claim at all; and untangling shared finances happens through general civil law — contract and equity claims that are expensive, uncertain, and never designed for relationships. Death is harsher still: an unmarried partner inherits nothing without a will, has no homestead or elective share protection, and can be excluded from medical decisions by next of kin. Common law marriages validly formed in other states before moving here are recognized — but nothing formed in Florida since 1968 qualifies, no matter how married the life looked.
What a Cohabitation Agreement Covers
A well-drafted agreement functions as the private law of the household: property — what each partner brought in and keeps, how the home is owned (and what happens to it at separation: buyout terms, sale mechanics, occupancy), and how jointly acquired property divides; finances — who pays what, how joint accounts work, whether contributions to the other partner’s property create reimbursement rights; support — whether any support is owed at separation (Florida contract law can honor a support promise the family code would never impose); the exit — a dissolution procedure, timelines for moving out, dispute resolution short of litigation; and death coordination — commitments to maintain wills, beneficiary designations, and life insurance that protect the surviving partner, executed alongside actual estate documents. What it cannot control: child support and timesharing, which courts decide when the issue arises — though for unmarried parents, the agreement pairs naturally with the paternity and parenting plan framework that provides those protections.
Are These Agreements Actually Enforceable in Florida?
Yes — Florida courts enforce contracts between unmarried partners under ordinary contract principles, so long as the agreement is grounded in valid consideration (mutual promises about property and finances qualify) rather than founded on the relationship itself. The practice points that make one bulletproof mirror marital agreements: written — never oral — with financial disclosure attached, independent review by counsel for each partner, clean execution, and updates when life changes (a home purchase, a child, a business). The comparison to prenuptial and postnuptial agreements is direct: same discipline, different statute — pure contract law rather than Chapter 61, which in some ways makes precision even more important, because no statutory safety net fills the gaps.
Who Needs One Most
The stakes concentrate in recognizable situations: the couple buying a home together with unequal down payments (the deed says half; the money said 80/20 — the agreement reconciles them); the partner leaving a career to keep the household or raise children, whose sacrifice otherwise earns nothing at separation; older couples — a large and growing Space Coast demographic — cohabiting after divorce or widowhood, often deliberately unmarried to preserve pensions, Social Security, or alimony from a prior marriage (see cohabitation and alimony — living together can itself affect support being received, which the agreement should anticipate); partners with children from prior relationships whose inheritances need protecting; and business owners whose company would otherwise be exposed to a messy equitable claim. With over 89 years of combined experience, our team drafts these agreements alongside the estate documents that complete the protection — because for unmarried couples, the will, the designations, and the healthcare surrogates are not optional extras; they are the only way the surviving partner is protected at all.
We have lived together fifteen years. Do I have any rights if we split?
Not marital ones — Florida recognizes no common law marriage formed here, at any duration. You keep what you own and what is titled to you; contribution-based equitable claims exist but are hard, expensive fights. An agreement now converts uncertainty into contract while you both still agree.
Is a cohabitation agreement unromantic?
It is the same conversation married couples have through prenups — and most couples find that settling the money questions removes tension rather than adding it. The alternative is not romance; it is ambiguity that surfaces at the worst possible moment.
What happens to our house if my partner dies without a will?
If titled jointly with survivorship, you keep it. If titled in your partner’s name — or as tenants in common — their share passes to their heirs, who become your co-owners or your landlord. This exact scenario is why the agreement must travel with real estate documents: deeds, wills, and designations aligned.
Can our agreement say who gets custody of our kids if we separate?
No — timesharing and child support are always decided under the children’s-best-interests framework when the question arises. What unmarried parents can do is establish paternity and a court-ordered parenting plan now, which provides the enforceable structure an agreement cannot.
Write the Protections the Law Does Not Provide
Unmarried couples get exactly the legal protection they build — no more. The Law Office of John Vernon Moore, P.A. drafts cohabitation agreements and coordinated estate protections for partners throughout Melbourne, Palm Bay, Viera, and Titusville. Call (321) 529-7777 or schedule a consultation today.