Living Together: A Legal Guide for Unmarried Couples

by Toni Lynne Ihara, Ralph E. Warner, Frederick Hertz

This definitive guide for unmarried couples has been completely updated to reflect legal changes in common law marriage, property and debts, tax rules, insurance, medical care, public benefits, pre-marital agreements, alimony, estate planning and legal issues involving children, from adoption to custody and more. Includes tear-out agreements and sample forms.Unmarried couples living together should take certain legal precautions, whether you've lived together for years on end, or are simply contemplating the idea. This helpful book § buying or renting a house § owning cars, boats and other property together or separately § having and raising children § writing wills and estate plans § getting authorization to make medical decisions for an ill or injured partner § breaking up The 13th edition provides the latest law in readable 50-state charts, and includes many fill-in-the-blank legal forms. It has new information on recent changes to tax laws, such as the "marriage penalty" and estate taxes. It also covers government and private companies that offer domestic partner benefits.

Genres: Relationships, Finance, Law, Nonfiction, How To, Legal

272 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1984

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely helpful book which asks all the legal questions you should be asking yourselves before begin cohabiting. It has very helpful forms you can photocopy and use, as well as a CD with file versions of the forms. To a limited extent, it discusses individual state's rules, which I found very helpful. It is not a cheap book, however ($35 list price, $23 on Amazon.com), which is why I got it from the library.

[quail · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a solid and easy-to-use resource for creating the agreements it is recommended one has in place as a member of an unmarried couple. The proofing was weak, though, which made me worry about the legality of the documents presented. However, it appeared all typographical errors were trivial.

As a librarian, I also have to thank them for recommending a law librarian as the first step in private legal research.

[Jordan Michaels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful guide to ensure a smooth relationship. If you are unmarried and living together I recommend you get this book and go through it with your significant other. There is nothing like loving someone and losing them and everything you built together to destroy the survivor. Please, think ahead and read this with your loved one.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been the perfect legal guide for buying a house with someone I'm not legally bound to already- even though this book is geared towards romantic couples, there are a lot of templates for agreements that can be adapted.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite helpful from a legal standpoint and told me about a lot of things I hadn't even considered or knew I would have to find out about but wasn't sure where to go for the information.

[Liz De Coster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry, but one what one expect? Deals primarily with complicated arrangements - shared parenting, business/property division, and similar situations.