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Mel Gibson and Oksana Grigorieva Had a Cohabitation Agreement: The Pre-Nup For Shacking Up

By Allison Monyei on Jul 13th 2010 5:02PM
Filed under: Celebrity News, News

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Agreements, agreements, agreements. Anybody can make an agreement with someone else for just about anything. Let's take Mel Gibson's former girlfriend and baby mama Oksana Grigorieva for example. She signed away her ability to claim any of Mel Gibson's fortune in a cohabitation agreement, although the agreement made provisions for their eight-month old daughter, Lucia.

According to PopEater (as originally reported by Radar Online): "Mel Gibson's erstwhile lady Oksana Grigorieva 'signed a cohabitation agreement that locked her out of securing a slice of the Oscar-winning director/actor's billion-dollar fortune.'"

Cohabitation agreements essentially function like prenuptial agreements, except that they apply to couples that are only living together. One would think that agreements like these would be more common, but many people have never heard of cohabitation agreements and fail to take advantage of them.
If you're shacking up with someone, it may be in your best interest to have a cohabitation agreement to protect your assets, unless you live in a state that recognizes common law marriages. Many times, people cohabit for years and acquire things that later need to be divided if the couple splits. While there are procedures in place to assist a married couple in dividing assets upon the dissolution of a marriage, no such remedy exists for those who were just living together. Couples ending a deep partnership outside of marriage are thus left to their own devices (or vices) when a relationship ends, which frequently includes going to court.


A cohabitation agreement can help a non-married couple split their co-mingled assets more equitably. A good cohabitation agreement can work in your best interests, especially if you have a lot to lose (as Mel Gibson does). Plans to end the relationship as fairly as it began or determining how to support children from the union are only some of the provisions that may be included in a cohabitation agreement. But all agreements are not created equal as each is designed to focus on the relationship at hand. If asked to sign a cohabitation agreement, make sure to be your own best advocate. Always read such documents completely and seek legal counsel if you feel the need to.

Poor Oksana failed to heed this lesson. Just because you have a multimillionaire's child does not mean that you hit the jackpot and will be taken care of for life -- and Oksana reportedly put her own career on hold to bear his child. Now her indepdent means of earning income are stalled. The life of a single mother is hard with or without millions, but it's especially hard without money of your own. Grigorieva claims that the agreement was never finalized and that she signed a draft of the agreement under duress. Now she is living on credit cards and borrowed money. If Oksana's allegations are true, that is really unfortunate -- but it looks like Mel Gibson has a shrewd team of attorneys and financial advisors around him.

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