same-sex and same-gender couples can be officially recognized by the city of philadelphia as life partners. the benefits include being able to: to have your relationship recognized as a life partnership, you need to register with the city. you must provide supporting documents as evidence of your relationship. life partnership does not provide all of the rights and benefits available to opposite-sex married couples and their dependents/children. for example, your life partner will not automatically have the right to make certain financial and medical decisions for you. in addition, if either you or your life partner is the biological or legal parent of a minor child, additional steps must be taken to establish the parental rights of the non-biological or nonlegal parent. in order to obtain these rights, you should consider speaking to a lawyer and taking additional legal steps after you register your life partnership with the city.

the document allows you to put certain agreements down on paper, such as the payment of household expenses or what would happen in the event of a separation. a cohabitation agreement can provide for the payment of alimony for her or an increase in the amount of child support required by law. their cohabitation agreement stipulated that she was to be paid alimony in the event of a separation. another option is to write a new cohabitation agreement and sign it before witnesses, which will automatically cancel the old one.

unmarried couples who are living together have the option of creating a number of legal documents (often called “cohabitation agreements”) that can help protect their rights as a couple, while at the same time safeguarding their individual interests and assets. this sub-section includes information about when you might need a cohabitation agreement, what it can do for you, the different ways they can be drafted, and related matters such as wills and durable power of attorney. the legal requirements for a valid cohabitation contract are much like the requirements for any valid contract. some of the aspects of the couple’s life together a cohabitation agreement might cover include: two documents that may be used in place of, or in addition to, a cohabitation agreement are wills and durable powers of attorney. these documents, like a cohabitation agreement, can help ensure that the individual’s wishes are carried out in the event that they die or become incapacitated.