The fundamental purpose of all family law agreements is to settle an issue that has come up, or one which that could come up, and might be the subject of a legal dispute.

It is almost always better to settle a dispute rather than have the courts resolve your problem for you. It is usually cheaper to settle a dispute rather than take it to court, and negotiated settlements usually give the parties you the best possible chance of maintaining a halfway decent relationship with each other in the future. Family law agreements also give the parties you an incredibly flexible way of resolving their your dispute since they . Your agreement can be tailored to suit the your particular circumstances and needs of each party, and can be far more creative in resolving a problem than a court order ever could be.

Marriage agreements and cohabitation agreements usually talk about what will happen if the parties' relationship breaks down, although they can sometimes address how things will be handled during the relationship. These sorts of agreements are normally executed made well before the parties marry or begin to live together.

It is important to know that you do not have to enter into a marriage or cohabitation agreement just because your partner wants you to , or just because you're about to marry or start living with someone. While your partner may want you to sign the an agreement very much, there is you are under no legal obligation to enter into such an agreementdo so. With or without a family law agreement, remedies are almost always available under the common law, the ''Divorce Act'' or the ''Family Law Act'' if problems crop up later on.  The rest of this website talks about the legal rights and duties involved when a couple lives together, marries , or has a baby, and the entitlements and obligations that arise couples have when a couple separatesthey separate.

Some agreements are silent on do not deal with these issues, and some paint only a vague picture of the parties' respective financial responsibilities. Other agreements are mind-bogglingly detailed and cover even the tiniest details. In my view, unless someone is spectacularly anal retentive, the less said in a marriage agreement or cohabitation agreement , the better. You wouldn't want every aspect of your relationship governed by a legal contract — that's exactly the sort of thing that encourages relationship breakdown.

The most common reason why people enter into a marriage agreement or a cohabitation agreement is to specify how property will be dealt with if the relationship comes to an end, although agreements like these can also deal with the payment or non-payment of spousal support. Typically, however, these sorts of agreements just try to preserve a party's interest in an asset after the relationship has ended.  Agreements about the care of children or the payment of child support are only binding if they are made after separation or when the parties are about to separate.

Separation agreements are entered into after a relationship has broken down. There is no need for the parties to have moved out or gotten a divorce when the agreement is executedmade; in fact, when a couple is married it's usually best to deal with the separation agreement before applying you apply for a divorce , just in case an agreement you can't be reachedreach an agreement.

Separation agreements are binding from the moment they are signed by both parties. They operate from the time of execution they are made and, where children, child support or spousal support are issues, they continue to operate indefinitely into the future. Theoretically, a separation agreement will be binding on the parties until they die. In practice, however, most people stop relying on the agreement once the children have grown up, left home and become independent, even though the agreement may continue to be legally binding on them.