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25. COHABITANTS
A new piece of legislation - the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 - introduces new rights for cohabitants. A cohabitant is either one of a couple who live together (or lived together) as if they were husband and wife or civil partners.
We expect this Act to come into force as part of Scottish law in 2006. When it does, a cohabitant will be able to ask the court for a share from their former cohabitant's estate. This will only apply in cases where the person who died does not make a will.
When the court considers giving a share of someone's estate to a former cohabitant, it will look at the couple's relationship. It will consider things such as:
- how long the couple lived together
- what sort of relationship they had (was it like a marriage or a civil partnership?)
- what sort of arrangements they made about money. For example:
- did they have a joint bank account?
- did they support one another financially?
This will help the court to decide whether a cohabitant is entitled to an award under these rules.
If you think this might apply to you, you should seek independent legal advice from a solicitor or a Citizens Advice Bureau. Once the Act becomes law, you will be able to read more about what it does online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/familylaw/, and in a set of information booklets we will publish to go with the new law. You can contact the Scottish Executive on 0131 244 3581 if you have questions about family law.
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