Can A Live-In Partner Get An Order for Maintenance?

Whether a live-in partner can get court-ordered maintenance after the relationship breaks up increasingly becomes an important questions.  According to a 2018 article in Psychology Today, some 17.1 percent of women and 15.9 percent of men were cohabiting.1

In Texas, the answer is “no.”  According to the Family Code, “An order for maintenance is not authorized between unmarried cohabitants under any circumstances.”2

Author Jim Cramp is a retired active duty colonel and the founder and principal attorney at the Cramp Law Firm, PLLC.  The firm provides a spectrum of family law-related services to clients in the greater San Antonio region, across the United States and throughout the world.  The firm specializes in Federal Civil Service and Military Divorce matters.

 

Note1  –  See https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sliding-vs-deciding/201807/the-risks-couples-moving-in-together (last accessed on June 20, 2019)

Note2  –  Texas Family Code Section 8.061