Ontario · family agreements

Decide how you’ll share your life together, in writing — one answer at a time.

Answer a few questions about your relationship, your household money, your property and your debts. You’ll review the finished draft — including a legal-advice certificate page for each of you — before deciding whether to unlock the copy and Word download.

Let’s get started.

Use full legal names, exactly as they appear on government ID. In the agreement you’ll be called Partner One and Partner Two. This builder is for Ontario — the agreement is governed by Ontario law.

Ontario law, in plain words. Under Ontario’s Family Law Act, a cohabitation agreement must be in writing, signed by both partners, and witnessed — otherwise a court may refuse to enforce it. This builder prepares that written draft; the signing and witness steps are built into its last pages.

Your partnership.

These statements open the agreement. They record the facts the two of you are relying on — courts read them, so they must be true.

Do you and your partner currently live together?
Do either of you plan to marry the other?
Two different clocks. “Common-law” starts at different times depending on who is counting. For taxes, the Canada Revenue Agency treats partners as common-law after 12 months of living together — or sooner, if they have a child together. Ontario family law runs on a longer clock: support rights between partners usually arise after three years of living together, or with a child together in a relationship of some permanence. This agreement is available to you whichever clock you are on.

Household money.

How the two of you handle everyday living expenses. This is about day-to-day life — who owns what comes next.

Do you use a shared bank account to pay for household expenses?
Do you want to spell out how you split household expenses?

Your property — what each of you owns.

First the general rules, then a chance to list specific things. Anything you type as a list prints as a schedule at the end of the agreement.

Property you own together
Property each of you owns alone
If separate property gets mixed with shared property — for example, separate savings paid into a joint account

List specific assets

Optional. For each list you can type it here, say you’ll attach it to the signed agreement instead, or skip it — the general rules above still apply. Think broadly: bank accounts, vehicles, land, business interests, pensions and retirement accounts all count as assets — if you want any of them recorded as one partner’s separate property, list them.

Your separate assets, Partner One — things you own and keep separate?
Your partner’s separate assets, Partner Two?
Do you and your partner co-own any assets?
Do you want to set out how future shared assets would be divided if you separate?

Your debts.

Debts matter as much as property. First the general rules, then a chance to list specific debts — typed lists print as schedules.

Debts you take on together
Debts each of you has alone

List specific debts

Optional — type a list here, attach it to the signed agreement instead, or skip. Listing a debt here does not change who the lender can collect from; it records what the two of you agreed between yourselves.

Your separate debts, Partner One — debts only you are responsible for repaying?
Your partner’s separate debts, Partner Two?
Do you and your partner share any debt?
Do you want to set out how future shared debt would be divided if the relationship ends?

Children.

A short step — this agreement can record who the children in your lives are, but it cannot make decisions for them. Please read the warning below.

Do you or your partner have any dependent children?
Do children figure into your household?
What you can record: schooling and upbringing. Ontario law does let a cohabitation agreement record the partners’ wishes about a child’s education and moral training — things like a faith tradition or a cultural upbringing the two of you want respected. It can never record who a child lives with or who makes the decisions for a child: parenting time and decision-making are simply not things an agreement like this can settle. Anything you write in the box above prints in the draft’s children section.
What this agreement cannot do. A cohabitation agreement cannot decide parenting arrangements — decision-making responsibility and parenting time are always decided by a child’s best interests, and a court is not bound by what partners write here. Child support follows the Child Support Guidelines and cannot be signed away in an agreement like this one. If either of you has children, get legal advice before signing — the draft repeats this warning so nobody misses it.

Support — and signing safely.

Support is money one partner may owe the other after a breakup. Ontario law can give a partner the right to claim it — this section records what the two of you choose instead, plus the steps that protect the agreement.

If the relationship ends, will either partner pay support to the other?
Why this choice matters in Ontario. Common-law partners can owe each other spousal support much like married spouses once they have lived together for at least 3 years — or sooner, if they have a child together. That is why giving up support is a serious step, and why a waiver deserves independent legal advice for each of you.
Life changes — and a judge can still say no. Jobs end, health changes, children arrive, costs rise. This agreement records that you both understand circumstances may change, and any support release is meant to stand anyway. But be clear-eyed: an Ontario court can set aside an agreement — or a release of support — where financial disclosure was not full and honest, where a partner did not understand what they were signing, where a partner signed without getting independent legal advice of their own, or where the result would be unconscionable (grossly unfair). A court may also set aside a release of support if, by the time of the separation, it no longer reflects what the two of you originally intended. The steps below are your protection.

If one of you dies

Should there be limits on what the surviving partner can receive from the other’s estate? Whatever you choose, the agreement still lets each of you name the other as a beneficiary in a will — and this section does not replace a will.

No will? No automatic share. If a married spouse dies without a will, Ontario’s intestacy rules give the survivor an automatic share of the estate. A common-law partner gets no automatic share at all — without a will, your partner could receive nothing from your estate, no matter how long you lived together. That is why each of you should make a will of your own.

Anything else?

Do you want to add anything else to the agreement? Couples sometimes add things like who keeps a pet if they separate, how the household furniture and contents get divided, how big financial decisions get made together, what happens to property one partner was gifted during the relationship, or what happens with the home or the lease if one partner moves out. Anything you type prints in the draft as extra terms, in your own words.

If you ever disagree

If you ever disagree about this agreement, how should you try to solve it first?
Read this agreement again as life changes. It is wise for the two of you to review it together — and take it back to your lawyers — whenever something big shifts: buying a home, having a child, a large change in either partner’s income, or getting married. A short review now and then keeps the agreement matched to your real lives.

Signing day

For an Ontario cohabitation agreement to be enforceable, it must be in writing, both partners must sign, and each signature must be witnessed. Who will be there when you sign?

How many witnesses will watch each partner sign?

Signing readiness

Tick what is true. Anything unticked becomes a reminder on your draft — it does not change your answers.

Strongest protection: each of you takes the unsigned draft to your own Ontario family lawyer, gets advice, and has that lawyer complete the certificate page at the back of the draft. It costs far less than arguing about the agreement later.

Your draft is ready.

Read every word before signing. Both partners sign in front of a witness, and each partner’s own lawyer should complete the certificate pages at the back.

Partner One—
Partner Two—
Living together—

Unlock the finished document

$49 CAD · one-time payment

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