Legal assistance with cohabitation contracts

Questioner

My partner and I have been living together in his house for 6 months. He had to buy out his ex. Now we are going to make all sorts of adjustments to the house, but he does not want the house to be in my name yet. I would rather move, so that I can also build something up and I am afraid of losing a lot of money if the relationship breaks up if I invest in this house now, but we have nothing 'legally' on paper. I have lived together before and invested a lot there, put this on paper myself, with my signature, but when push came to shove I had no rights to anything (not legally established). My current partner thinks a cohabitation contract is nonsense, because you don't have to declare it null and void when the relationship is over (he says). I have another question about that, he had a contract with his ex and they didn't do anything with it (that contract is still there), he did buy her out, but somewhere I'm sometimes afraid that she has even more right to the house where I now live with my partner than I do.

Lawyer

You can give your agreements with the notary more force. This does not have to be a general cohabitation agreement, but given your thoughts about the relationship, it is useful. It is also the case that there is already a simple community of contributed movable property. If you invest money in the house, your partner will enrich his assets and it is quite difficult to release this again on the basis of the law (unjust enrichment). You must therefore record what your contribution is and that this is a loan, for example, that must be repaid after the end of the cohabitation. I don't see what else the ex-girlfriend would be entitled to, other than undisclosed assets.

Lawyer

So you live with your partner whose house is in his name. You want to invest in the house and you contribute to an investment in a property that is not in your name. When selling the house, the owner of the house will receive the value. In principle, you are not entitled to this since you do not have co-ownership. I find unjust enrichment of your partner a difficult story since you live together and you therefore do enjoy the property/renovation. The question of whether there is a community/estate as the previous forum user indicates is a difficult story. Furthermore, if you separate, the properties must be divided according to who the property can be attributed to. If you buy everything together, it is therefore difficult to determine what is yours and what is your partner's. In short, this is not a desirable situation. Either a contract is drawn up between you or you make a good distinction is what belongs to whom exactly. I would not invest in a kitchen without agreements. A cohabitation contract ends (is terminated) in my opinion as soon as you no longer live together. If she has been bought out, whatever that may mean exactly, it seems to me that there can be no more claim from this ex-partner (unless they still have a dispute about the contract). She may still be able to come back on something, but how long ago was that and what did the parties agree on at the time about the division (final settlement?)