Cohabitation agreements

De facto cohabitants have the possibility to manage the question of assets within their relationship by signing a special “cohabitation contract”, fully regulated in terms of form, content and effects by the so-called “Cirinnà law” (no. 76 of 20 May 2016).

A prerequisite for the stipulation of the contract in question is that the de facto cohabitation is noted in a corresponding entry at the registrar’s office and that the cohabitants, adults and not declared mentally incapable, who are free from marital ties or civil union, have not entered into another similar contract which is still valid.

The contract is drawn up in writing, under penalty of nullity, by public deed or private agreement with signatures authenticated by a notary or a lawyer who certifies compliance with mandatory rules and public order.

As for the contents, in addition to the obligatory indication of the domicile of both parties (relevant for the purposes of notification of withdrawal – see below), the contract may contain:

• the agreed method of contributing to the needs of life in common, calibrated according to the means and the professional or household work capacity of each;
• the choice of regime for the legal community of assets, for which the law refers back to the rules pertaining to marriage. The importance of this option, which in any case can always be modified by a deed having the same form as the original contract, may be understood by considering that unlike what happens for married couples or persons in a civil union (for whom, if the parties remain silent on the subject, the property regime applicable by default is the legal community of assets), cohabitants do not acquire a new status, which is why the purchase and subsequent administration of assets by them are subject to the normal rules of the law. In order for these rules to be overridden a specific agreement is required.

A cohabitation contract is dissolved in the cases provided for by law, namely:

– the death of one of the parties to the contract;

– the subsequent marriage or civil union of the cohabitants with each other or with third parties;

– an agreement of the parties formalised in a deed having the same form as the original contract, or

– unilateral withdrawal, which must be drawn up in the aforementioned form and notified to the other partner.

Termination, like all other changes, must also be recorded at the registrar’s office and it is noted in the certificate of the cohabitation agreement.