Extra-marital affairs can lead to extra-marital costs

Having an extra-marital relationship can be a costly affair for a client. The Property Relationships Act 1984 allows lovers to bring a claim for a property division if it can be shown that the affair constitutes a domestic relationship, according to The Argyle Partnership solicitor Nabil Wahhab.

This could lead to the extraordinary scenario where a planner’s client could be hit by a claim for property division from both a husband/wife and a lover.

“The courts have in the past found that a husband who was staying two to three nights a week with someone other than a spouse was in a de facto relationship,” Wahhab says.

If a married person is intent on having an affair, Wahhab advises, he or she should act to lessen the potential consequences by entering into a cohabitation agreement. “This is effectively a pre-nuptial agreement between a spouse and a lover to the effect that the lover will not make a claim on the spouse’s property or assets if the relationship ends.

“The agreement can also provide for a division of assets between the two in the event the relationship breaks down.”

Wahhab says a planner who “becomes aware of a client having a serious extra-marital relationship with a person should, even must, tell the client they should see a lawyer with a view to entering into a cohabitation agreement”.

“If the lover does not stand to receive any potential benefit, however, then it is only a moral issue for the planner whether or not to advise the client to see a lawyer.”

Record-keeping is an integral part of any cohabitation agreement, he says, to ensure the spouse and lover have “a paper trail to follow” to ensure both ultimately receive the assets they’re entitled to under the agreement.