Bill’s good news for cohabitting partners

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

M– The court may decide to distribute property acquired during cohabitation equally among partners.

This could apply in the event the parties cease to cohabit and in the absence of any agreement entered upon by the parties. Cohabitation is the state of living together and having a sexual relationship without being married.

According to the Matrimonial Property Bill of 2022 which was tabled in Parliament a week ago, a man and a woman in contemplation of cohabitation or who are cohabitating may make an agreement regarding the distribution of property in the event they terminate their relationship.

They may agree in respect of; the ownership of the separate property of each party, property acquired during the cohabitation and the distribution of property acquired during cohabitation.

The bill states that where parties cease to cohabit, a court application by either or both of the parties, shall distribute the property in accordance with the agreement or amounts of contribution made by either party. “Where the parties cohabitation fails to enter into an agreement, that fact shall not affect the rights of the parties but the burden to prove the facts of cohabitation or any contributions made shall be on the party alleging the existence of those facts.”

Distribute

The good news is, that, the court is satisfied that the parties cohabited, and that there was some contribution, the court may distribute the property equitably between the parties.

On another note no spouse has the right to send the other away from their matrimonial home.

This is if the Matrimonial Property Bill that is currently in Parliament passes into an Act.

The Bill proposes protection from eviction from matrimonial home for either spouse. In Section 7 Subsection 1, the bill states that, (c) A spouse shall not, during the subsistence of the marriage, be evicted from the matrimonial home by or at the instance of the other spouse except by order of a court.”

It is a common customary practice that a husband would eject a wife from their home in the event she is found to have committed certain offences.