Domestic Partnership Agreement

A Domestic Partnership Agreement ("Agreement") is a legal document used by couples who are planning to live together for a longer duration and planning to articulate the terms in writing.

This Agreement can be used by couples who have already started living together and want to formalize the relationship without getting married or couples who are planning to start a long-living relationship on a future date.

This agreement is used by couples who are not planning to get legally married but want to formalize their relationship by putting the terms into writing. On the other hand, a pre-nuptial agreement is used by couples who are planning to get legally married after a certain point of time or on happening of certain conditions.

The parties entering into this Agreement have to be above the age of 18 years and other requirements for a valid contract such as consent, sound mind, etc. are also applicable here. The Parties can be either of different genders or of the same gender.

Having a written Domestic Partnership Agreement helps the parties in resolving any disputes arising between the partners and to prove before any legal authorities that the partners are living together for a long period.

How to use this document?

To conclude or draft this Agreement, the inputs and disclosure by both the Partners are required. This Agreement covers the following major areas of domestic partnership.

• Monthly maintenance: the issues like division of monthly expenditures, proportion of contribution, etc. can be mentioned under this clause.
• Properties: the properties owned by the partners before entering into this Agreement, ownership changes in such properties, properties acquired together after entering into this Agreement, etc. are included.
• Debts: the debts of each partner at the time of entering into a domestic relationship, the liability of such debts, mutual debts incurred after entering into this Agreement, etc.
• Children: the details of children born out of a previous relationship, mutual children, maintenance of children, custody of children at the time of termination and so on.
• Maintenance after termination: the maintenance duty, amount, duration of payment, etc. can be mentioned here.
• Estate rights: In case if one partner dies whether the remaining partner gets estate rights and conditions applicable for such rights can be mentioned here.

Once the details are filled in, this Agreement can be printed on non-judicial stamp paper of value prescribed by the concerned state where this Agreement is executed. The Agreement has to be signed by two independent witnesses who are not a party to this Agreement. It is better to get the Agreement notarized by a Notary Public to have a more legal value to this document.

Applicable laws

There is no law in India that codified the domestic partnership or cohabitation of couples.

Under some jurisdictions, the partners living for a long duration may be treated under the law as wife and husband and for such couples, the provisions under CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure)1973, Domestic Violence Act, 2005, etc. will be applicable.

The general rules of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 will also be applicable for this Agreement.

How to modify the template?

You fill out a form. The document is created before your eyes as you respond to the questions.

At the end, you receive it in Word and PDF formats. You can modify it and reuse it.