Youth Beware

Recently I was consulted by a distressed male of 34 years of age. For the purposes of this document I will call him ‘Tom’. Tom had entered into a relationship with a very prominent business person when he was 18 years of age. It turned out that this business person formed relationships with young males who then took over the household role in their relationship.

In this instance the businessman required Tom at the tender age of 18 years to enter into a binding financial agreement whereby the business person would support Tom in the relationship, but Tom would not gain any interest in the business person’s assets which were quite substantial.

It turned out that when Tom turned 34 years of age, the business person evicted him from the home. Tom came to me for advice on whether he could overturn the financial agreement to obtain some level of support after the many years that he had given to the relationship which he had entered into.

Unfortunately the document was well drafted and the chances of Tom overturning the agreement were very slim. It would have been a very costly exercise for Tom to institute proceedings to try and obtain the level of support which he certainly deserved.

After Tom was evicted from his home by his former partner, he was left penniless and without any redress. He had devoted 16 years of his life to that person. He did not work during that period of time, nor did he gain any qualifications which would assist him in looking for employment. Tom was in a very distressed state when he came to me.

If Tom had not entered into the agreement, he would have been entitled to an interest in the assets of the business person which would assist him in re-establishing his life. Under the new legislation, Tom would now also be entitled to spousal maintenance, which I’m sure the court would have awarded in his favour.

The moral of the story is this - when entering into a relationship, be very careful of your rights under the terms of that agreement. At the very least, provisions could have been included in the agreement for the support of Tom if and when the relationship ended. Even a small financial benefit would have assisted Tom to re-establish his life.

Unfortunately, the risks and costs associated with obtaining some financial support for this person were not feasible.

James T Noble
Principal, James Noble Family Law