4. Cohabitants, Property and Succession
Distinguish cohabitation from marriage, analyse land and trust claims, advise on agreements, severance, wills and intestacy consequences.
How to study the CPQ Advanced stage
Prepare each separately assessed component on its own terms, then connect legal analysis, client judgment, drafting, accounts and research across the route.
Core concepts
Concept 1
Cohabitants do not acquire a general marital financial-relief regime by living together.
Exam cue: Identify legal title, contributions, discussions and detrimental reliance.
Concept 2
Property claims depend on title, trusts, proprietary estoppel and evidence of intentions and reliance.
Exam cue: Separate lifetime property rights from death claims.
Concept 3
Separation and death require separate advice on severance, wills, intestacy and family-provision claims.
Exam cue: Record advice on cohabitation agreements, declarations of trust and wills.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Using the phrase common-law spouse as a legal status.
Guardrail: Do not study all optional modules as mandatory, combine unlike assessment structures, exceed professional authority or rely on outdated law, procedure, tax or regulator rules.
Assuming unequal contributions automatically fix beneficial shares.
Guardrail: Do not study all optional modules as mandatory, combine unlike assessment structures, exceed professional authority or rely on outdated law, procedure, tax or regulator rules.
Forgetting that cohabitation and succession regimes differ.
Guardrail: Do not study all optional modules as mandatory, combine unlike assessment structures, exceed professional authority or rely on outdated law, procedure, tax or regulator rules.
Memory anchors
Cohabitant property
Title, intention, contribution, reliance, share and remedy.
Separation plan
Home, debt, children, agreement and documents.
Death planning
Severance, will, nomination, intestacy and claim.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
An unmarried partner says ten years of cohabitation gives the same financial remedies as divorce. What is correct?
A home is in one partner's sole name, but the other paid a large deposit after discussions about shared ownership. What should be analysed?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
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