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Domestic Contracts
Marriage & Cohabitation Agreements
Discover the Angrove Law difference when choosing who to trust with drafting the perfect domestic contract for you and your partner.
We provide a simple and affordable process to preparing agreements that you need to create your own terms for your relationship and stay out of court.
Working with Angrove Law is as easy as 1, 2 3
- Book a free consultation meeting today! The meeting will take 15 minutes or less.
- Fill out our domestic contract services questionnaire.
- Attend first meeting (virtual, by phone, or e-mail) to review your questionnaire & discuss your unique context.
- Receive domestic contract for review.
- Address important matters such as independent legal advice for your spouse or who will be your witnesses.
- Attend final meeting (virtual, by phone, or e-mail) to go over domestic contracts and sign!
Transparent Fee-for-Service Pricing for Domestic Contracts
Marriage Contract
Price Without Kids
$1200
Price with Kids
$1500
ADDITIONAL FEES
2+ properties @ hourly rate
Cohabitation Agreement
Price without Kids
$950
Price with Kids
$950 - 1250
Additional Fees
2+ properties @ hourly rate
What can we include in a domestic contract?
- Division of real property
- Distribution of business assets
- Allocation of inheritence
- Sharing of household chores & expenses
- Ownership of pets
- Future spousal support (allimony)
- Proprietorship of cars & boats
- Allotment of damages from litigation
Moving in together? Getting Married? Considerations before you meet with us
- Do you need a domestic contract before you're married?
- Do you understand each other's financial situation?
- Are you adopting each other's children?
- Is there a large sum of inheritance involved?
- Are you both on title of your home or named in the lease?
Details about Angrove Law Domestic Contract Services
In Canadian legislation marriage agreements or marriage contracts are referred to as domestic contracts. This is really a catch all term for any document signed by parties who are romantically involved, about their relationship.
At Angrove Law, we provide clear customized marriage agreements at fee-for-service pricing – no retainer fees and no hidden costs! Getting married? Realized you want to navigate the assets and debts of your marriage on your own terms? For more information check out our page about marriage contracts.
Cohabitation agreements are a type of domestic contract specifically for unmarried couples, often referred to as common-law. The definition of who is common-law or cohabiting differs from province to province. It may apply to you even if you don’t think your relationship is that serious!
Learn more about cohabitation agreements.
Common-law partners have different property rights and obligations than married spouses. Unmarried partners are not automatically entitled to each others assets nor are they protected by law in the same way as married couples. As an unmarried person, you can still split assets upon separation but without a cohabitation agreement everything must be proven. You can avoid court time by getting an agreement!
Wills are not a type of domestic contract but often go hand in hand with marriage contracts or cohabitation agreements. The terms in your Will need to be consistent with those in your domestic contract otherwise you’re setting up your beneficiaries for a fight. When drafting your marriage contract or cohabitation agreement, we will ask you if you have a Will or any designated beneficiaries under other documents. If you don’t have a will, depending on your circumstance, it’s usually a good time to get one at the same time as your domestic contract so that inconsistencies do not occur. If you do not have a will your estate will be handled by the Inestate Act of your province and anything could be left up to interpretation.
Look here for more information on Wills with Angrove Law.
Domestic contracts and estate planning go hand-in-hand. At Angrove Law, we’re happy to provide assistance with both. There will be estate planning aspects to your domestic contract. Does your spouse or partner get your assets when you die? If not this needs to be clearly laid out in your domestic contracts and your estate planning documents need to say the same thing. Estate planning documents will include no only your will but designated beneficiaries in your insurance policies, investment accounts, pension benefits, etc.
Common Questions about Domestic Contracts
Prenups
Alimony
Inheritance
Prenups
Prenup is the American slang for ‘prenuptial agreement’ which is a legal term used the United States. In Canada, our legislation refers to this type of agreement as a marriage contract, a marriage agreement, or the catch all term domestic contract.
Alimony
Alimony is an American term. In Canada, alimony is called spousal support. Spousal support refers to payments made from one spouse to another at the end of a marriage to support a spouse. A spouse may be supported upon separation because they are disabled, they put their own career at jeopardy for the sake of the other spouse or for their children, etc. It is possible to contract out of spousal support. However, it is often fought about in court even with a domestic contract. Why? Because, in Canada, spousal support provisions are reviewable if there has been a material change in circumstance. A material change in circumstance must be proven in court but could be moving for a job, having a child, an accident that substantially harmed one spouse, etc. Our marriage agreements at Angrove Law consider the intricacies of Canadian family law Owen drafting your spousal support provisions.
Inheritance
Domestic contracts are often used to keep inheritance separate from one’s spouse. We address how inheritance will be treated in all of our domestic contracts, whether that’s separate property or to be split equally should you separate.
It is important to note that once the money is used for property that is used by both parties then it becomes joint property, meaning owned by both spouses. Couples can opt to have a ‘tracing clause.’ Meaning, ineritance money will be traced into assets and that asset is still owned by the spouse who got inheritance. At Angrove Law, we pride ourselves on keeping you out of court. Tracing clauses are an easy way to end up in court so we do not recommend them unless super specific.
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