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Cohabitation agreement (Konkubinatsvertrag), in German (Switzerland)
Switzerland · in German
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This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
Made for use in Switzerland
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For couples living together in Switzerland without being married: the agreement on property and inventory, the sharing of household costs, the flat, loans and gifts, and the settlement on separation. It also says what a cohabitation agreement cannot do: it does not make the partner an heir (that needs a handwritten will, Art. 505 of the Civil Code, ZGB), pension fund benefits follow the fund's regulations (Art. 20a of the Occupational Pensions Act, BVG), and parental authority and child maintenance are settled elsewhere. With an inventory annex. Print two copies and both sign. In German.
- Made for use in Switzerland
- Last updated November 4, 2026
Published byDocMuse
When to use this document
- You are moving in with your partner in Switzerland without getting married.
- One of you earns more and you want to set down who pays which household costs.
- You bought furniture and a car together and want to settle what happens to them if you split up.
- You are looking for a cohabitation agreement for an unmarried couple.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- First party
- First party's address
- Second party
- Second party's address
- Living together since
- Address of the property
- How household costs are shared
- Agreed monthly contributions (amount per party, account)
- Compensation for the one who runs the household or cares for children (if agreed)
- Who is the tenant of the flat
- Who keeps the flat after a separation, and by when the other moves out
- Time to settle accounts after a separation (e.g. three months)
- Additional terms
- City
- Date
- First party's property: what it is, and when and how it was acquired
- Second party's property: what it is, and when and how it was acquired
- Things owned jointly when signing (and the shares, if not half each)
Common questions
- What does Swiss law provide for unmarried couples living together?
- Almost nothing. There is no statute on cohabitation: no maintenance after a separation, no share in the other partner's assets, no splitting of old-age (AHV) and pension fund savings, and no right of inheritance. Without a contract, courts may apply the rules on a simple partnership to things bought together (Art. 530 ff. of the Code of Obligations, OR). A cohabitation agreement therefore sets out who owns what, who pays which costs and how accounts are settled on separation. It needs no notary; only land requires a public deed and does not belong in this agreement.
- Does my partner inherit in Switzerland if we have a cohabitation agreement?
- No. Cohabiting partners are not each other's legal heirs, and the agreement does not change that. It takes a will written entirely by hand, dated and signed (Art. 505 ZGB), or a will or contract of succession made by public deed. The compulsory shares of descendants and of a spouse one is still married to are reserved. Whether inheritance tax is due, and how much, is for the canton. A will cannot be a contract template: it has to be handwritten.
- Does a surviving partner in Switzerland get AHV or pension fund benefits?
- No survivor's pension from the AHV. A pension fund may provide benefits for a partner but need not; its regulations decide whether and on what conditions (Art. 20a BVG), and it usually asks for a beneficiary declaration during the member's lifetime. In pillar 3a the partner is a beneficiary with the descendants if the couple lived together without interruption for the last five years or the partner must support a joint child (Art. 2 BVV 3). Ask both providers what they require; the cohabitation agreement can prove that you lived together.
- Can a Swiss cohabitation agreement settle custody and maintenance of joint children?
- No, those have their own routes. Unmarried parents obtain joint parental authority by a joint declaration: together with the acknowledgement of the child at the civil registry office, or later at the child protection authority where the child lives (Art. 298a ZGB). A maintenance agreement for the child binds only once the child protection authority approves it (Art. 287 para. 1 ZGB). The cohabitation agreement can, however, set how the partner who works less to care for the children is compensated.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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