OVERLAND PARK DIVORCE LAWYER ANSWERS: HOW DO YOU SPLIT UP ASSETS IF WE WERE NEVER MARRIED?

Hi, my name is Lauren Fields. I lead the Domestic Litigation team here at Roth Davies, LLC. Today I am going to be discussing non-marital contracts. One common call that I get from clients is a situation where parties have never married, they are not common law married, but they have cohabitated together for many years and acquiring joint property. Or sometimes the parties have a child together and cohabitated and have acquired joint property but were never married. In these situations, the parties sometimes want to divide their property but do not know how to do that or they don't realize they have grounds or the legal ability to do so without a marriage or divorce. In these cases, a non-marital contract can be very important. Non-marital contracts can dictate how property will be divided in the event of a breakup for people who have never been married. You can include an allocation of assets and debts in the non-marital contract and then it would be enforceable upon the split of the parties. If you are cohabitating with someone and you do not want to enter into a marriage or a common law marriage with that person a non-marital contract can be very prudent if you have any amount of asset or debt that would be at issue if you broke up. For example, often times people buy houses together when they're not married and that could be subject to a non-marital contract. If this is a concern for you or if you have any questions about it, please feel free to reach out at (913) 451-9500. Thank you.