Cohabitation agreement for unmarried couples (Germany)
Published byDocMuse
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.
An agreement for an unmarried couple living together in Germany: who owns or rents the home and who moves out after a separation, how household costs are shared, a list of who owns what, how joint purchases and debts are divided if they split up, and pointers to a health-care power of attorney and separate wills. German law has no property regime for unmarried couples. This agreement needs no notary because it deliberately leaves out land and promises of gifts (§§ 311b and 518 of the German Civil Code, BGB). In German.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- First partner
- First partner's date of birth
- First partner's address
- Second partner
- Second partner's date of birth
- Second partner's address
- Start date
- Address of the property
- Legal title to the home (e.g. ownership, lease)
- Time to move out after separating
- How living costs are shared
- Each partner's personal property
- Property acquired together, and the shares in it
- Time to settle up after separating
- Other terms
- City
- Date
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Does a cohabitation agreement in Germany have to be notarised?
- No, such an agreement needs no particular form; both partners signing the same paper serves as proof. Two kinds of term must be notarised, however: a duty to transfer or acquire land, a flat or a share in one (§ 311b(1) BGB), and a promise of a gift (§ 518(1) BGB). This agreement deliberately contains neither; a couple wanting either sees a notary separately.
- Can unmarried partners in Germany make a joint will or inherit from each other?
- A joint will, such as the 'Berlin will', is open only to spouses and registered partners (§ 2265 BGB), and unmarried partners have no right to inherit under the law. A partner who wants to provide for the other makes a will of their own — written out and signed entirely by hand (§ 2247 BGB), since a typed or printed will is void — or a will before a notary. The cohabitation agreement does not replace a will.
- What happens in Germany when an unmarried couple without an agreement separates?
- German law has no property regime and no equalisation of gains for unmarried couples: each keeps what belongs to them. Disputes often arise over who owns an item and who paid what for the other, and contributions to the other's property are often hard to recover without an agreement. That is why this agreement records who owns what, how joint purchases are divided and who moves out after a separation.
- Can unmarried couples in Germany enter a registered partnership?
- No. No new registered life partnership has been possible since 1 October 2017; since then, marriage has been open to all couples. The 'responsibility community' presented by the Federal Ministry of Justice in February 2024 did not get beyond key points. Unmarried couples therefore arrange their affairs with agreements like this one, powers of attorney and wills.
- Can an unmarried partner in Germany decide for the other in an emergency?
- Not without a power of attorney. The emergency right to act in health matters under § 1358 BGB applies only to spouses, and even for them for at most six months. Unmarried partners need a health-care power of attorney, which for dangerous medical procedures, placement in a closed setting and coercive measures must be in writing and name those measures expressly (§ 1820(2) BGB), ideally together with a living will.
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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