Is a Cohabitation Agreement Legally Binding in Florida?

Is a Cohabitation Agreement Legally Binding in Florida?

Florida law starts with a blank slate. The Fifth District Court of Appeal stated in 1997 that “the law of Florida creates no legal rights or duties between live-ins.” The blank slate also means you can create your own rights by contract. The same court held that “an agreement for support between unmarried adults is valid unless the agreement is inseparably based upon illicit consideration of sexual services.”

The agreement must be written. The Fifth District said “we find that such agreements must be in writing” because of the potential for abuse in these relationships. Florida’s statute of frauds reinforces this. A promise that cannot be performed within a year, or a contract about an interest in land, must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged.

A cohabitation agreement is exactly that kind of contract. The agreement covers the house you share, the property you each brought in, and what you are owed if the relationship ends. The firm drafts the agreement for your situation and quotes the fee at your free consultation.

What Happens If My Partner Dies and We Are Not Married?

An unmarried partner in Florida has no inheritance rights by default. The intestate succession statute names the spouse and the decedent’s kindred. A partner is neither.

Compare what a surviving spouse receives. An intestate share of the whole estate or half, depending on whether either spouse has children from another relationship. An elective share equal to 30 percent of the elective estate. A homestead life estate in the home. Exempt property of up to $20,000 in furnishings and two vehicles. A family allowance of up to $18,000 during the estate’s administration. Preference to serve as personal representative.

An unmarried partner receives none of it. No share of the estate, no claim to the home, no exempt property, no allowance, no priority to administer the estate. If the partner left no will and no beneficiary designations naming you, everything passes to that partner’s blood relatives.

Health care decisions follow the same pattern. Florida’s health care surrogate statute puts a close friend near the bottom of the list, after a guardian, a spouse, adult children, parents, siblings, and an attentive relative. Without a written designation, you may not have the authority to make medical decisions for your partner.

The answer is a will, a health care surrogate designation, beneficiary forms, and a lady bird deed or survivorship language in the deed. A cohabitation agreement tells the two of you what should happen, and the estate documents carry it out. For more on what Florida law does and does not recognize, see the firm’s page on common law marriage in Florida.

Palimony in Florida and the Posik Case

A nurse in Volusia County sold her home and moved to Brevard County to live with a physician. The physician had signed a written agreement promising lifetime support, a will leaving her estate to the nurse, and liquidated damages of $2,500 a month if the physician ended the cohabitation.

The relationship ended. The trial court found the nurse had waived the agreement and awarded her nothing. The Fifth District Court of Appeal reversed in 1997. The court held that “even though no legal rights or obligations flow as a matter of law from a non-marital relationship, we see no impediment to the parties to such a relationship agreeing between themselves to provide certain rights and obligations.”

The agreement was enforceable because it was in writing, signed, and rested on the nurse’s giving up her home and relocating. The promise was not based on sexual services. The court said the writing requirement exists “because of the potential abuse in marital-type relationships.”

The lesson is straightforward. A promise made over dinner, or in the middle of an argument, or during a move, means nothing by itself. If you gave up a job, sold a house, or relocated for your partner, put the arrangement in writing before the sacrifice, with clear terms about what you are owed if it ends. The firm drafts that agreement.

Can a Cohabitation Agreement Be Verbal?

In 1996 a woman in Florida sued on an oral promise. Her partner had agreed to support her during her pregnancy and for a reasonable time after in return for her quitting her job. The trial court dismissed the case as a claim for “palimony.” The Second District Court of Appeal reversed and held that “this case simply involves whether these parties entered into a contract for support, which is something that they are legally capable of doing.”

But the Second District did not decide whether the oral agreement was enforceable. The court noted that “the issue of the statute of frauds is not properly before us because the trial court did not rule on it.”

A year later the Fifth District answered the question in a different case. The court said that because of the potential for abuse in these relationships, such agreements “must be in writing.”

Florida’s statute of frauds adds another layer. A promise that is not to be performed within one year must be in writing. So must a contract for an interest in land. A cohabitation agreement almost always covers property that will last longer than a year and often involves a house. An oral promise may be real, but proving it and enforcing it is another matter. The written agreement is the evidence that survives.

What Should a Cohabitation Agreement Include?

The agreement covers what you each bring in, what you share, and what happens when the relationship ends or one of you dies. The firm drafts it around your situation, but most agreements address the same subjects.

Separate property is what each of you owns before moving in. The agreement names it and says it stays yours.

The home is the center of the document. Who is on the title, who pays the mortgage, who pays the taxes and insurance, who pays for repairs and improvements, and what happens if one of you moves out or dies.

Joint accounts and joint purchases get a rule. Equal shares, or in proportion to deposits, or some other arrangement that fits your finances.

Pets often matter more than anything else. The agreement can say who keeps them.

A breakup term states what one partner is owed if the other ends the relationship. Support for a set period, a lump sum, a timetable to move out, or some combination.

A death term says what passes to the survivor. If you agree that one of you will leave property to the other by will, that promise must be in writing and signed before two attesting witnesses. The cohabitation agreement can include that language, or the firm can draft the will alongside it.

Child support and time-sharing are never in it. A court decides those under the family law statutes by the child’s best interests. No agreement between the parents can override that rule.

Unmarried Couple Buying a House Together in Florida

When two unmarried people take title to a house, Florida’s conveyance statute treats them as tenants in common unless the deed says otherwise. Each owns a share, and at a death that share passes to the dead owner’s heirs, not to the survivor. If your partner dies without a will, your partner’s parents or siblings may inherit half the home you live in.

The fix is survivorship language in the deed. The deed states that the two of you hold as joint tenants with right of survivorship, and at the first death the survivor owns the whole property. Another option is a lady bird deed naming your partner as the remainder beneficiary. The firm drafts that deed for a $399 flat fee plus recording.

Tenancy by the entirety is not available. Entireties ownership is for married couples only. The Florida Supreme Court held in 2001 that “a tenancy by the entireties is a form of ownership unique to married couples.”

Unequal contributions matter. If one partner puts more toward the down payment than the other, the agreement can say the larger contributor is repaid first from any sale proceeds before the rest is divided. Without that term in writing, a court may have no way to sort out who paid what.

The cohabitation agreement and the deed work together. The agreement says what you intend. The deed carries it out on the public record. The firm drafts both.

Can Unmarried Couples Get Alimony in Florida?

An unmarried couple in Florida has no right to alimony or equitable distribution. Florida’s divorce statutes govern dissolution of a marriage, and a breakup between people who never married is not a dissolution. A court will not divide property acquired during the relationship the way it divides marital property, and it will not order one partner to pay support to the other under the alimony statute.

What the couple does have is ordinary contract and property law. If the partners signed a cohabitation agreement, a court can enforce its terms. If the agreement says one partner receives monthly support for a period after the relationship ends, or keeps certain furniture, or gets a reasonable time to move out of a home the other owns, those provisions are enforceable like any other contract. The Fifth District Court of Appeal held in 1997 that “an agreement for support between unmarried adults is valid unless the agreement is inseparably based upon illicit consideration of sexual services.”

Without an agreement, a court can only look at title. Property in one name belongs to that person. A joint bank account is divided according to each party’s contributions if evidence proves them. There is no presumption of equal sharing and no catch-up for the partner who paid less but contributed in other ways. The written agreement is the only structure the couple has.

Do Unmarried Couples Need a Will in Florida?

A cohabitation agreement states what the partners owe each other. The agreement cannot, by itself, transfer property at death. The agreement may say “I will leave my home to my partner,” but under Florida law an agreement to make a will or give a devise “shall not be binding or enforceable unless the agreement is in writing and signed by the agreeing party in the presence of two attesting witnesses.”

The estate documents carry out the intention. A will names the partner as beneficiary. A revocable trust holds the home and names the partner as the person who takes it at death. Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance policies bypass probate entirely.

Health care decisions follow a statutory order. A partner with no written designation falls at “a close friend of the patient,” after guardian, spouse, adult children, parents, siblings and an attentive relative. A health care surrogate designation puts the partner first. A durable power of attorney gives the partner authority to manage finances during incapacity.

The Secure Will Estate Plan at this firm is $1,200, or $1,950 for a couple. The plan includes a will, a durable power of attorney, a health care surrogate designation, a living will, a HIPAA authorization and a lady bird deed on the home (recording additional). Signing it alongside the cohabitation agreement means the partner is protected both during the relationship and at death.

Does a Cohabitation Agreement Cover Children?

A cohabitation agreement between unmarried parents cannot set child support or time-sharing. A court decides those under the family law statutes, based on the child’s best interests and the parents’ incomes. An agreement that waives child support is not enforceable, and a court will disregard it.

The agreement can still address the home the children live in. One partner may own the house, and the agreement may give the other partner a right to occupy it with the children for a period after the relationship ends. The agreement may specify who pays the mortgage, insurance and repairs while the children are minors. The agreement addresses property and support terms between the adults, not custody or visitation terms.

Parentage is established separately. Florida’s paternity law provides for a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity or a court determination. The child’s legal parents have rights and duties regardless of whether the parents ever lived together or signed any agreement. An unmarried couple expecting a child should address the home and finances in a cohabitation agreement and address parentage and support through the legal process designed for them.

What Is the Difference Between a Cohabitation Agreement and a Prenup?

A cohabitation agreement is a contract between two unmarried people. Florida’s premarital agreement act governs an agreement “between prospective spouses made in contemplation of marriage.” The law that judges each is different, the formalities are different, and what the agreement can do is different.

A cohabitation agreement cannot waive spousal rights because the signers are not spouses and have no spousal rights. A prenuptial agreement can waive the elective share, the homestead descent rule, the pretermitted spouse share, exempt property and the family allowance.

When an unmarried couple decides to marry, the cohabitation agreement does not become a prenuptial agreement automatically. The couple signs a prenuptial agreement (flat fee from $2,450) with the disclosure and witness formalities Florida requires, and that agreement supersedes the earlier one. The cohabitation agreement can be referenced so that property already divided stays divided the same way.

What Are the Most Common Mistakes Unmarried Couples Make?

1. A verbal promise. The Fifth District Court of Appeal held in 1997 that agreements for support between unmarried adults “must be in writing.” An oral promise to share the house or to pay support if the relationship ends is difficult to prove and may not be enforceable under the statute of frauds.
2. A deed in one name with the other partner paying the mortgage. Without a written agreement, the partner whose name is not on the deed has no ownership interest. Proof of mortgage payments may support a claim for repayment, but it does not create an ownership share in the property.
3. No survivorship language in the deed. Florida law makes a deed to two people a tenancy in common unless the deed “expressly provide[s] for the right of survivorship.” Without those words, a deceased partner’s half passes to that partner’s heirs under a will or intestacy, not to the survivor.
4. No will or health care surrogate designation. A partner without a will has no intestate share and no role in the other’s health care decisions. The surviving partner may have no standing to make funeral arrangements or access accounts.
5. Signing a form from the internet that promises alimony-style support without the writing formalities. A form that lacks two attesting witnesses for any promise about a will, or lacks clear language about support, may fail when a court examines it.

How Much Does a Cohabitation Agreement Cost?

The firm’s fee for a cohabitation agreement is quoted at the free consultation. Every couple’s situation is different, and the consultation establishes what the agreement needs to address.

At the consultation, each partner lists what they own coming in, what they earn, and what they pay toward the home and shared expenses. The couple describes who owns the house or lease, how joint accounts work, and what each expects if the relationship ends or one partner dies.

The attorney drafts the agreement for the couple’s situation. Where the terms favor one side heavily, the other partner should have their own lawyer review it. The firm represents one party in any agreement between two people; the other party chooses their own counsel, and the firm provides a list of names.

Signing happens before a notary from home using Florida online notarization. The Posik decision requires a writing; the firm adds a notary so the signatures are never in question.

The estate documents are often signed the same day. A will naming the partner as beneficiary, a health care surrogate designation, a durable power of attorney and a lady bird deed on the home make the cohabitation agreement part of a complete plan. The Secure Will Estate Plan is $1,200, or $1,950 for a couple. The lady bird deed alone is $399 for one owner, plus recording.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Situations

A woman left her job in North Carolina and moved to Orlando to live with her partner. Before the move they signed a cohabitation agreement that listed her separate savings, set a move-out timetable and provided that he would pay her living expenses for six months if the relationship ended. When it did, the written promise gave her a claim she would not have had otherwise.

Two men bought a Fort Lauderdale condo together, one paying 70 percent of the down payment and the other 30 percent. The partners signed an agreement that recorded each contribution and titled the condo as joint tenants with right of survivorship. The deed said the survivor takes the whole property at a death, and the agreement said the larger contributor is repaid first at a sale.

Sources of Law

• Contracts between unmarried partners: Fla. Stat. §725.01 (2026) (statute of frauds; an agreement in consideration of marriage, or not to be performed within one year, must be in writing and signed); §732.701 (an agreement to make a will or to give a devise must be in writing, signed and witnessed); ch. 742 (paternity and child support cannot be waived by the parents' contract).
• What an unmarried partner receives by default: Fla. Stat. §732.102 and §732.103 (2026) (intestate succession names the spouse and relatives, never a partner); §732.201 (the elective share belongs to a surviving spouse); Fla. Const. art. X, §4 and Fla. Stat. §732.401 (homestead descent to a spouse or descendants); §732.402 and §732.403 (exempt property and family allowance for a spouse and children).
• The house: Fla. Stat. §689.15 (2026) (a conveyance to two or more creates a tenancy in common unless the instrument expressly provides for survivorship; entireties ownership is for spouses only); §689.11 (the lady bird deed form rests on §689.01 and the common law of life estates).
• Health care decisions and visitation: Fla. Stat. §765.401(1) (2026) (the order of proxies when no written designation exists; a close friend is near the end of the list); §765.202 (designation of a health care surrogate); 42 C.F.R. §482.13(h) (a Medicare-participating hospital must honor the patient's choice of visitors, including a domestic partner).
• Premarital agreements: Fla. Stat. §61.079 (2026) (definition, the matters an agreement may cover, the enforcement grounds in subsection (7), amendment and revocation by a signed writing without consideration).
• Cases, each read in full from the opinion files under reference/caselaw/: Posik v. Layton, 695 So. 2d 759 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997); Crossen v. Feldman, 673 So. 2d 903 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996); Beal Bank, SSB v. Almand & Associates, 780 So. 2d 45 (Fla. 2001).
• Fees: the firm's posted fee schedule, posted October 6, 2026 and honored 90 days from posting; government costs are additional and passed through at cost. Secure Will Estate Plan and lady bird deed fees on the pricing page.
Statute text compared with the 2026 Florida Statutes on 2026-11-11.

Related Guides

Common Law Marriage in Florida, Florida Domestic Partnership Registries, Florida Prenuptial Agreement Attorney, Florida Will: Make a Will That Holds Up in Court, Florida Lady Bird Deed: Keep Your Home Out of Probate, Joint Tenancy With Right of Survivorship in Florida, Florida Health Care Surrogate Designation, Florida Intestate Succession Chart: Who Inherits (2026).

What I Have Seen With Unmarried Couples

In 14 years of law practice, I have seen what happens when unmarried couples separate or when one partner dies without a written agreement. I also litigate these agreements after they fail, which enhances the practice of drafting them.

I have a few take-home points.

The first is the writing. A nurse in Brevard County sold her Volusia County home and moved in with a physician under a written promise of lifetime support and $2,500 a month if the relationship ended. When it did, the trial court found she had waived the agreement. The Fifth District Court of Appeal reversed in 1997 and held that “an agreement for support between unmarried adults is valid unless the agreement is inseparably based upon illicit consideration of sexual services.” The agreement held because it was written, signed and rested on her sacrifice. A verbal promise would have given her nothing.

The second is the estate documents. The agreement states what the partners owe each other, but it cannot transfer property at death by itself. A will, a health care surrogate designation and beneficiary forms carry out the promise. Signing them the same day completes the plan.

Avoid signing an internet form without understanding what Florida law requires. A promise about a will needs two attesting witnesses, and a promise that runs past a year or concerns land needs a signed writing.

One honest limit is that no agreement between the parents can set child support or time-sharing. A court decides those under the family law statutes, based on the child’s needs.

Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., admitted in Florida since 2012. General information rather than advice on your situation.

Updated on November 12, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502.

General information about Florida law, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. Do not send confidential information until we have agreed to represent you.