Manhattan, New York City, Westchester, Long Island and beyond
Free Telephone Consultation
+1 646-241-8602
Manhattan, New York City, Westchester, Long Island and beyond
+1 646-241-8602
If you live with a partner in New York and you’re not married, you don’t get the legal protections married couples get. No automatic property rights. No automatic inheritance. No automatic say in a medical emergency. A cohabitation agreement fixes that. As a Cohabitation Agreement Lawyer NYC couples turn to, Collins Law Group, PLLC writes clear, fair agreements that protect your home, your savings and your future – whether you live in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester or Long Island.
A cohabitation agreement is a written contract between two unmarried partners who live together. It states who owns what, who pays for what, and what happens if the couple splits up or if one partner passes away. New York does not give unmarried partners the rights married spouses get, so this agreement is the real safety net. Think of it as a plan you build together while things are calm, so nothing gets left to guesswork during a breakup.
Short example: Sarah and Mike buy a condo in Astoria together. Sarah pays 70% of the down payment. Without an agreement, if they split up, a court may not automatically give Sarah her larger share back. With a signed cohabitation agreement, the split was already decided. No fight. No guessing. No court battle over receipts and bank statements from years ago.
A good Cohabitation Agreement Lawyer NYC couples trust will walk through your full financial picture, ask honest questions about what could go wrong, and put real answers on paper instead of vague promises.
People search for a Domestic Partnership Lawyer NY when they want more than a private contract. They are usually asking about the legal status of domestic partnership itself, often to get city or workplace benefits, like New York City’s Domestic Partnership Registry.
New York City lets unmarried couples register as domestic partners at the City Clerk’s office. Registering can help with hospital visitation rights, certain employer benefits, and housing succession rights in rent-stabilized apartments. Registering does not replace a cohabitation agreement. It does not cover your finances, your home, or what happens if you break up. As the domestic partnership lawyer NY couples ask for by name, we handle both sides: the registration questions and the private agreement that protects your money and property.
Short example: James and Alex register as domestic partners in NYC so Alex can join James’s health plan at work. They still need a separate written agreement to decide what happens to their shared savings account if they ever part ways. One document handles benefits. The other handles money.
A cohabitation attorney NY couples hire does three things well. First, listens to your full situation without judgment. Second, explains your rights under New York law in plain words, not legal jargon. Third, drafts or reviews an agreement built to hold up if it is ever challenged later.
New York courts have ruled on cases like this many times. Courts will generally enforce a written cohabitation agreement when both people signed it, both sides had a fair chance to read and understand it, and neither person was pressured into signing. That is why a free template pulled off the internet carries real risk. If the wording is off, or if one partner can claim they never understood it, a judge can throw the whole thing out right when you need it most.
Short example: A couple in Park Slope wrote their own agreement using a downloaded form. Three years later, when they split up, one partner argued the form was never explained to them and asked the court to ignore it entirely. A properly drafted agreement, reviewed by a licensed cohabitation attorney NY residents trust, removes that risk from the start.
As an unmarried couples lawyer NY partners contact after a big life step, we hear the same three questions almost every week:
Here are direct answers. New York does not recognize common-law marriage, with rare exceptions for couples who legally formed one in another state before moving here. That means no automatic rights to a partner’s property or income, no matter how many years you have lived together. New York also does not offer palimony the way some other states do. A partner generally cannot sue for ongoing support just because a relationship ends, unless there is a signed agreement promising it. This gap is exactly why couples work with an unmarried couples lawyer NY residents recommend: to write down protections instead of hoping the law fills the gap for them.
A living together agreement NY couples sign usually covers the practical, everyday questions that matter most:
Short example: A couple in Riverdale had one partner stay home to raise their child while the other worked full time. Their living together agreement NY attorney drafted included a fair buyout plan for the home and a support arrangement in case they separated. That single document protected the stay-at-home partner from walking away with nothing after years of unpaid work raising a child and running the household.
Some couples share a household and a business at the same time. If that describes your life, you may need more than a personal cohabitation agreement. You may need a business partnership agreement as well. As a partnership agreement lawyer NY couples and business partners hire together, we make sure your personal agreement and any business agreement do not contradict each other. Mixing a personal relationship with a shared business, without separate paperwork for both, is one of the most common and expensive mistakes we see walk through our door.
Short example: A couple who co-own a small café in Williamsburg needed two separate documents. One covered their shared home and savings. The other covered the business itself. That way, a breakup would not automatically threaten the café, and a business dispute would not automatically threaten their home.
Domestic partner rights NY law provides are narrower than most people expect. Registered domestic partners in New York City may get hospital visitation rights, certain city employee benefits, and rent-stabilized apartment succession rights. What domestic partners do not automatically get includes a share of a partner’s retirement account, spousal maintenance after a breakup, automatic inheritance without a will, or automatic parental rights unless those rights were legally established.
This gap matters more in New York than in states with broader domestic partner laws. If you want protections beyond what the city registry offers, you need to write them into a private agreement, or in some cases consider marriage. We explain both paths honestly, based on what actually fits your life and your goals, not a one-size-fits-all script.
Many clients are not just partners. They are parents too. As a family agreement attorney NY couples turn to once kids are part of the picture, we help unmarried parents put agreements in place covering parenting time, decision-making, and how the family home is handled if the couple separates. Child custody and child support in New York apply to unmarried parents the same way they apply to married ones, but those matters run through a separate legal process. A cohabitation agreement covers your property and finances. We can walk you through custody and support separately, alongside your cohabitation agreement, so every part of your family’s future is covered.
Collins Law Group, PLLC is a New York-based family law firm serving Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, Westchester, and Long Island. Divorce and family law is our daily work, which means we see, every week, what happens to couples who never wrote anything down, and what happens to the ones who did. That experience shapes every cohabitation agreement we draft. Each one is written to actually hold up if it is ever tested in court, not just to look good on paper.
We explain your options in plain English, never in confusing legal terms. We tell you the likely cost range before you sign anything, so there are no surprises later. And we offer a free phone consultation, so you can ask your questions before deciding whether to move forward with us.
Every couple’s situation is different, so pricing depends on how much property you own together, whether children are part of the picture, and whether both partners already agree on the basics. Here is what to expect, step by step:
Free consultation. A short call to understand your situation and answer your first questions.
Fact-finding. We ask about your income, property, debts, and goals for the agreement.
Drafting. We write the agreement in plain language you can actually read and understand.
Review. Both partners review the draft, ideally each with their own lawyer, so it holds up later if it is ever questioned.
Signing. The agreement gets properly witnessed and, when appropriate, notarized.
You will get a clear price estimate before any work begins. No surprise bills, no pressure to sign faster than you are ready for.
You do not need every detail figured out before you call. Most couples start with one question and build the full agreement from there. Call Collins Law Group, PLLC at 646-241-8602 for a free consultation, or send a message through our contact page. We serve clients across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, Westchester, and Long Island, and we give honest, plain-English answers starting with your very first call.