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Well here we are again, Cupid is making his rounds and we are inundated with adverts for Moonpig and the like…yes, it is Valentines Day once more!

With the return of Valentine’s Day the minds of many people turn to romantic gestures of love, such as marriage proposals and invitations being extended for parties to live together.

Whilst these are indeed lovely, joyous things to happen which should be thoroughly enjoyed, parties are reminded to also protect themselves in these situations.

If you are engaged and planning to get married, why not draw up a pre-nuptial agreement in order to protect your assets in the event that you do later separate or divorce? This is particularly useful if you enter into the relationship with valuable assets that you would like to keep.

If you are about to live together, you should be aware that in the event that you later separate you will not have the same rights as married couples and therefore you may wish to enter into a Cohabitation Agreement before you move in together to set out what will happen to your assets in this situation.

Of course we do not wish to be party poopers and we sincerely wish that parties embarking upon the exciting journey of engagement, marriage and cohabitation will remain together and happy for the rest of their lives if they would like to do so – and that they never have to enforce the terms of these agreements.

However, in the event of these relationships breaking down, these same parties would have absolute peace of mind knowing what will happen to their assets – and if they have entered into the relationship with valuable assets, the security of knowing that these assets are protected.

The message really in this case is be excited about these events, but take control.

Separation and divorce is not a given but neither is bad health and knowing when we will die, yet we often protect ourselves and our loved ones against these events with health and life insurance, always in the hope that we will not have to use them, but reassured to know that they are there.

So congratulations to all those lucky couples embarking on exciting adventures together! We wish you well and if you would like to take some advice on our particular brand of “insurances” then we will be happy to give you some advice on the subject!

Claire Weeks is a specialist Family Law solicitor with Curwens Solicitors in Hoddesdon. For a one hour appointment at the fixed fee of £75 + VAT please call 01992 463727.