US couples · Legal docs
Cohabitation Agreement Cost in 2026, and What It Actually Has to Include
Prices checked on the providers' own pages in October 2026, a copy-ready clause checklist, what a cheap template leaves out, and how it differs from a prenup.
A DIY cohabitation agreement template costs $7.50 to $119 one-time at LawDepot (checked 18 October 2026), or $49 a month after a 7-day free trial. A lawyer bills by the hour or quotes a flat fee: in Texas, the State Bar's 2025 survey puts the median private-practice rate at $368 an hour across all practice areas. No published total for a lawyer-drafted agreement could be verified, so ask any firm for a written quote. A lawyer for each partner costs more again, and is also what makes the agreement hardest to attack later.
The short version
- Budget by complexity, not by a single number. Renters splitting furniture can start from a template. Couples with a house, a business, retirement accounts, or a big income gap are paying for advice, not paperwork.
- Cheap is fine for simple lives. A template gives you a filled-in form. It does not check your state's rules, your disclosure, or whether a clause will hold up. Cancel any free trial you do not want to roll into a monthly charge.
- Some states insist on a written, signed contract. Texas requires a writing for agreements made on consideration of nonmarital cohabitation. In Minnesota, courts must dismiss property claims between cohabitants unless there is a written contract signed by both.
- It cannot control child support or custody. A court decides those by the child's best interests and is not bound by your contract.
- Your state matters. California enforces these agreements under Marvin v. Marvin. Illinois refuses marriage-like property claims between unmarried partners, a rule its Supreme Court reaffirmed in 2016.
- It does not replace an estate plan. An unmarried partner gets no spousal inheritance or gift-tax treatment. Pair the agreement with a will, beneficiary designations, a power of attorney, and a healthcare proxy.
On this page
- 01What it costs (prices checked October 2026)
- 02Why the price varies so much
- 03Cheap options: what you lose
- 04What it must include (checklist)
- 05Cohabitation agreement vs prenup
- 06Texas, Minnesota and Maryland notes
- 07What makes it hold up
- 08What it cannot do
- 09Does your state enforce it?
- 10The tax and inheritance gap
- 11Which option do you need?
What a cohabitation agreement costs
There is no single price. What you pay depends on how the agreement is made and how much you are dividing. Every figure below comes from the named provider's or body's own page, checked on 18 October 2026. Where no price could be verified, the table says so instead of guessing.
| How you get it | Price (checked 18 Oct 2026) | Source | What you get, and what you give up |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY template, one document | $7.50 to $119, one-time (LawDepot's published single-document range; the exact price shows at checkout) | LawDepot cohabitation agreement page | A filled-in form you sign yourselves. No one checks it against your state's rules or your facts. |
| DIY template, subscription | $0 for 7 days, then $49 a month until you cancel; or $155.88 for a year | LawDepot cohabitation agreement page | Unlimited documents. Easy to forget the renewal. |
| Online service with attorney review | No price for a US cohabitation agreement could be verified today | None verified | For scale only: HelloPrenup's online prenup is $599 per couple with no attorney on your agreement, or $2,197 with one attorney for each partner (see the prenup section below). |
| Attorney, billed hourly | Texas median $368 an hour in 2025 (all practice areas, full-time private practitioners; not a family-law figure) | State Bar of Texas, 2025 Income and Hourly Rate Report | Advice on your state's law, drafting to your facts, and negotiation. Total cost depends on hours. |
| Attorney, flat fee | No published benchmark could be verified | None verified | Ask each firm for a written flat-fee quote that says what it covers: drafting, rounds of revisions, and the signing meeting. |
| Separate attorney for each partner | Two sets of fees | Follows from the rows above | The strongest evidence that both of you understood and chose the terms. |
| Notarization | Texas: up to $10 for the first signature and $1 for each additional one. Maryland: up to $8 per notarial act, $30 if done remotely. | Texas Government Code 406.024; Maryland Secretary of State notary FAQ (COMAR 01.02.08.02) | Proof that the signatures are genuine. Other states set their own caps. |
Provider prices are as published on their own pages on 18 October 2026 and can change at any time. Check the current price before you buy. The Texas hourly figure is a statewide median for all practice areas, so a family lawyer near you may charge more or less.
Why the price varies so much
The cost tracks complexity and risk, not page count. A few facts about your life are what move you from a template to a lawyer:
- Real estate. A home one of you owns, or one you buy together, means title, mortgage, equity, and a buyout-or-sell plan. That usually calls for a lawyer.
- A business or professional practice. Valuing and protecting an ownership interest takes legal and often accounting help.
- Retirement and investment accounts. Separating what stays yours from what you build together takes careful drafting.
- A large income gap. If one partner earns far more, or one leaves a career to run the household, support-on-separation terms get negotiated, and each side wants their own advocate.
- Separate counsel. Two lawyers means two bills. It is also the biggest single upgrade in how well the agreement stands up if it is ever challenged.
Cheap options: what you get and what you lose
A low-cost template is a reasonable choice when you rent, own little, and mainly want a written record of who paid for what. It is a poor choice when the stakes are high. Here is the honest trade.
- You get: a structured questionnaire, standard clauses, and a document you can print and sign the same day.
- You lose a state check. A form will not tell you that Minnesota only enforces these contracts if they are written, signed, and enforcement is sought after the relationship ends, or that Illinois courts reject marriage-like property claims between unmarried partners.
- You lose advice. A form will not tell you whether a clause is one-sided enough to be attacked later, or what to do about a house that is in one name.
- You lose independent counsel. If the agreement is ever challenged, two people who each had their own lawyer are in a much stronger position than two people who filled in a form together.
- Watch the billing. LawDepot's free week renews at $49 a month unless you cancel. If you only need one document, compare that with the one-time single-document price before you start.
What a cohabitation agreement must include
At its core the document answers one question in advance: if we split up or one of us dies, who gets what and who owes what. A solid agreement covers the items below. Use this as your starting checklist.
Clause checklist
- Full legal names, the date, and a plain statement that you intend to remain unmarried
- A schedule of each partner's assets, income, and debts, attached as disclosure
- Property each of you owned before moving in, kept separate
- Property acquired during the relationship, and whether it is separate or jointly owned
- The home: who holds title, who pays the mortgage, who builds equity, and what happens to it on a split (buyout formula or sale)
- Bank, retirement, and investment accounts, joint and separate
- How day-to-day income and expenses are split (rent, utilities, groceries, who pays what share)
- Debts: each partner's pre-existing debt, any jointly incurred debt, and who repays what
- Big purchases (car, furniture, appliances) and who keeps them on separation
- Pets: who owns them and who keeps them if you part ways
- Whether either partner provides financial support during the relationship or after separation, or expressly does not
- What happens on death, with a pointer to wills and beneficiary designations (the agreement alone does not transfer assets at death)
- Dispute resolution: mediation or arbitration, and which state's law governs
- An amendment-and-termination clause so you can update it or end it in writing
- A severability clause so one bad provision does not sink the whole agreement
- Signatures and the date, ideally notarized
Cohabitation agreement vs prenup: cost and differences
The two documents cover similar ground, but they do different jobs. A cohabitation agreement governs an unmarried couple living together. A prenup is signed before a wedding and only takes effect on marriage. Texas law is a clear example of the prenup side: a premarital agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties, it is enforceable without consideration, and it becomes effective on marriage.
| Cohabitation agreement | Prenup | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | Unmarried couples living together, or about to | Couples about to marry |
| When it takes effect | When you sign it | On the wedding (Texas Family Code 4.004) |
| Governing law | Ordinary contract law plus any state cohabitation rules (for example Texas Business and Commerce Code 26.01, Minnesota Statutes 513.075 and 513.076) | A state premarital agreement statute (for example Texas Family Code chapter 4) |
| Child support | Cannot bind a court | Cannot bind a court. Texas says a premarital agreement may not adversely affect a child's right to support (4.003(b)) |
| Published online price (18 Oct 2026) | LawDepot template $7.50 to $119 one-time, or subscription | HelloPrenup $599 per couple without an attorney on your agreement; $2,197 with one attorney each ($799 per partner for representation) |
| Lawyer cost | Billed hourly or flat fee | Billed hourly or flat fee |
HelloPrenup's pricing page lists prenup prices, not a cohabitation agreement, so its prices are shown only for the prenup column.
Does a cohabitation agreement cost the same as a prenup? When a lawyer writes either one, you pay for the same thing: their time, priced hourly or as a flat fee, and the cost rises with assets and negotiation. We could not find a verified survey comparing the two directly, so ask any firm to quote both if you are weighing them. Online, prenup prices are easier to find, and the cheapest cohabitation option is a template.
Texas, Minnesota and Maryland: cost and rule notes
Texas
The State Bar of Texas 2025 Income and Hourly Rate Report puts the median hourly rate for full-time private practitioners at $368. It is a figure for all practice areas, not family law alone. By metro area, medians were $377 in Houston, $388 in Dallas-Fort Worth, $398 in Austin and $332 in San Antonio. Texas also requires an agreement made on consideration of nonmarital conjugal cohabitation to be in writing and signed (Business and Commerce Code 26.01). A Texas notary may charge up to $10 for the first signature on an acknowledgment and $1 for each additional signature.
Minnesota
Yes, a Minnesota lawyer will charge to draft one, but we found no published Minnesota price we could verify, so get written quotes. What Minnesota law does make clear is the format. Under Minnesota Statutes 513.075, a contract between cohabiting partners about property and money is enforceable only if it is written and signed by both, and only once the relationship has ended. Under 513.076, without such a contract the courts must dismiss a claim to the other partner's earnings or property based on living together. The statute's wording refers to a man and a woman, so ask a Minnesota lawyer how it applies to your relationship.
Maryland and Baltimore
We found no verified published fee for a Baltimore or Maryland lawyer drafting a cohabitation agreement, so ask firms for a written flat-fee quote. One cost that is fixed: a Maryland notary may charge no more than $8 per notarial act, or $30 for a remote notarization, according to the Maryland Secretary of State. The Maryland Court Help Center offers free legal help by phone and chat for people without a lawyer; ask them whether they can help with a contract like this or point you to low-cost options.
What actually makes it hold up
A signed agreement is not automatically an enforceable one. The habits below make an agreement much harder to attack later.
- Put it in writing and sign it. California's Marvin v. Marvin allows some oral and implied agreements, but Texas and Minnesota require a written, signed contract by statute. Proving unwritten terms years later is close to impossible anyway.
- Give consideration that is not sex. Under Marvin, an agreement is unenforceable to the extent it is "explicitly founded on the consideration of meretricious sexual services." Base it on pooling earnings, sharing property, and dividing expenses.
- Disclose finances fully and fairly. Both partners should lay out assets, income, and debts. Hiding a major asset invites a challenge later.
- Sign voluntarily. No pressure, no signing the night before a lease starts. Give each other time to read and think.
- Use separate counsel when the stakes are real. Each partner having their own lawyer is the strongest sign that the deal was informed and fair.
What a cohabitation agreement cannot do
Some limits apply no matter what you sign.
It cannot create a marriage or marital rights. A cohabitation agreement is a contract, not a marital status. Living together does not make you married in most states.
It cannot give your partner automatic inheritance or spousal tax treatment. Intestacy laws pass property to a spouse and relatives. Texas's rules in Estates Code chapter 201 are one example, and an unmarried partner is not on the list. Federal spousal gift-tax treatment does not apply either. Pair the contract with estate documents.
Does your state actually enforce it?
Whether your agreement is worth the paper it is on depends on your state.
Marvin v. Marvin (California, 1976) held that courts should enforce express contracts between unmarried partners, except to the extent the contract rests on sexual services, and may look at the couple's conduct to find an implied agreement. Other states set their own rules, sometimes by statute, as Texas and Minnesota have.
Illinois went the other way. In Hewitt v. Hewitt (1979) the Illinois Supreme Court refused to enforce property claims arising from a marriage-like relationship. In Blumenthal v. Brewer (2016) the same court declined to overrule Hewitt, held that "it remains good law," and said that changing the policy is for the legislature. In Illinois, the usual cohabitation agreement faces real headwinds.
You may also see claims that couples automatically become spouses after living together for two years. That comes from British Columbia's Family Law Act, section 3, a Canadian law, not a US one. In the US, unmarried partners get nothing automatically, which is exactly why the contract exists.
The tax and inheritance gap
You are not spouses in the eyes of the IRS or your state's inheritance law, and that has hard consequences.
$19,000
2026 annual gift-tax exclusion per recipient, per the IRS. Gifts to a partner above this may require IRS Form 709, because the marital deduction applies to legal spouses, not to registered domestic partners or civil-union partners.
- No spousal transfer break. Give your partner more than $19,000 in money or property in 2026 and you may need to file a gift tax return. Gifts to a spouse qualify for the marital deduction instead.
- No automatic inheritance. If you die without a will, intestacy law passes your property to a spouse and relatives, not to an unmarried partner.
- Registered partners are still not spouses federally. The IRS says the terms spouse, husband and wife do not include a registered domestic partnership or civil union that state law does not call a marriage.
- So pair the agreement with an estate plan. A will, updated beneficiary designations on retirement and life-insurance accounts, a durable power of attorney, and a healthcare proxy. The cohabitation agreement divides assets; these documents actually transfer them and let you speak for each other in a crisis.
Which option do you actually need?
Use this to size your spend before you call anyone. Work top to bottom and stop at the first row that fits.
| Your situation | What to do | Where the money goes |
|---|---|---|
| A home, a business, retirement accounts, a big income gap, or kids from a prior relationship | Attorney-drafted, separate counsel for each partner | Two lawyers' fees, hourly or flat |
| Meaningful shared finances but no real estate or business | One attorney, or a template reviewed by an attorney, with full disclosure on both sides | One lawyer's fee, or the lawyer's quoted review time |
| Modest shared rent, furniture, a joint account or two | A template, then notarize | A one-time template fee plus a notary fee (check your state's cap) |
Whichever row you land in, add two steps: check your own state's rule (Texas and Minnesota require a signed writing; Illinois rejects marriage-like property claims), and pair the agreement with estate documents (will, power of attorney, healthcare proxy, beneficiaries).
General information, not legal or tax advice. US law varies by state and changes over time. We cite primary sources so you can verify everything, but for your own situation confirm with a qualified attorney or tax professional in your state. See our editorial & sourcing policy.
Common questions
Is a cohabitation agreement legally binding?
Is a cheap template good enough?
Do you need a lawyer to write one?
One of us has much more debt than the other. What should the agreement say?
Does a cohabitation agreement cost the same as a prenup?
How much does a cohabitation agreement cost in Texas?
Can a cohabitation agreement cover child custody and child support?
Does living together for several years make you common-law married?
Does a cohabitation agreement need to be notarized?
Sources & further reading
- 1.LawDepot, Cohabitation Agreement page (single-document license $7.50 to $119; 7-day trial renewing at $49/month; 1-year plan $155.88), checked 18 October 2026
- 2.HelloPrenup, Pricing (prenup $599 per couple; $2,197 with two attorneys; $799 per partner representation), checked 18 October 2026
- 3.State Bar of Texas, 2025 Income and Hourly Rate Report (median hourly rate $368; medians by metro area)
- 4.Texas Business and Commerce Code chapter 26, Section 26.01(b)(3) (agreement on consideration of nonmarital conjugal cohabitation must be in writing)
- 5.Texas Government Code chapter 406, Section 406.024 (notary fees: $10 first signature, $1 each additional)
- 6.Texas Family Code chapter 4, Sections 4.002 to 4.006 (premarital agreements: writing, content, child support, effect on marriage)
- 7.Texas Family Code chapter 2, Section 2.401 (proof of informal marriage)
- 8.Texas Estates Code chapter 201 (intestate succession)
- 9.Minnesota Statutes 513.075, Cohabitation; property and financial agreements (Office of the Revisor of Statutes)
- 10.Minnesota Statutes 513.076, Necessity of contract (Office of the Revisor of Statutes)
- 11.Maryland Secretary of State, Notary FAQ (fees under COMAR 01.02.08.02: $8 per act, $30 remote)
- 12.Maryland Court Help Center (free legal help for people without a lawyer)
- 13.IRS, Frequently Asked Questions on Gift Taxes (2026 annual exclusion $19,000; marital deduction for spouses; registered domestic partnerships and civil unions not spouses)
- 14.Marvin v. Marvin, 18 Cal.3d 660 (Cal. 1976), Stanford SCOCAL opinion record
- 15.Blumenthal v. Brewer, 2016 IL 118781, Illinois Supreme Court official opinion (discusses and reaffirms Hewitt v. Hewitt, 77 Ill.2d 49 (1979))
- 16.Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act, Section 306 (separation-agreement terms binding on the court except those for support, custody, and visitation of children), Uniform Law Commission
- 17.British Columbia Family Law Act, Section 3 (spouse includes a person in a marriage-like relationship for at least 2 years)