Practice area: Unmarried couples
Living together without being married, separating without losing everything.
More and more couples live together without marrying, in a legal cohabitation or simply as a de facto couple. When they separate, the difference in status becomes clear: the law offers far less protection to an unmarried partner. I help you plan ahead, and defend your rights when living together comes to an end.
What this covers
Three statuses, three levels of protection.
Belgian law distinguishes between marriage, legal cohabitation (a declaration made to the municipality which offers limited protection, in particular of the family home) and de facto cohabitation, which offers almost no framework at all. Many people discover their real status at the moment of the break-up: no maintenance between former partners, no automatic right to the home, no share in assets acquired in the other's name.
For the children, on the other hand, parental authority, residence and maintenance contributions do not depend on the parents' status: the rights are the same for married couples, legal cohabitants and de facto couples.
Between partners the difference is very real: the duty of support while you live together, and maintenance after a break-up, exist only for married couples; a cohabiting partner can claim nothing, which is why planning ahead matters. I step in to organise the separation, settle what happens to the home and the jointly owned property, and assert claims between former partners when one has been left poorer to the other's benefit.
Common situations
The questions that arise at the break-up.
Planning ahead while you are living together is preferable. Where you have formalised nothing, you still have rights that can be defended.
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