You may find you can't afford to move out of your shared home immediately. If your split has been amicable, you may be able to divide your home between you and live in it separately. 

If the situation is temporary (for example, while you are waiting to sell your home or find a new place to live) and you are not happy with it, you may be able to apply for certain court orders to regulate the way you and your partner use the property.

If your split has been amicable and you have agreed to live separately on a more permanent basis, you'll probably want to rearrange your physical living arrangements (for example, move into separate bedrooms). You may not feel the need to change anything else, however, here are a few things to consider.

• Strengthen your rights
• Separate your finances
• Contact the benefits agency
• Set down ground rules

Strengthen your rights

If you are not married or in a civil partnership and you are not the owner or official tenant of your home, you won't have any rights to stay if your ex-partner later decides they want you to leave. Therefore, if you have decided to live separately in the same home, it's important that you make the agreement formal.

We rent our home

If you rent your home but your name is not on the tenancy agreement, you can:

• ask your landlord to make you a joint tenant - although bear in mind that this will make you jointly and separately responsible for paying the rent with your partner, which means if they can't or won't pay their share, you will have to pay it for them
• ask your landlord if you can have a separate tenancy - this will mean that you are only responsible for your share of the rent, however, your landlord may not wish to have two separate tenants in the same property
• draw up a tenancy agreement with your ex-partner and pay rent to them as your landlord.

If you rent a home with your partner and are considering splitting up visit our renting subsite for advice on your rights.

My ex-partner owns our home

In this case, you will need to draw up a tenancy agreement with your partner and pay them rent as your landlord. However, you are likely to be a licensee and your partner only has to give you reasonable notice before evicting you.

What if my ex-partner won't cooperate?

If you are living separately and have exclusive use of some part of the home, it doesn't necessarily matter if your partner refuses to give you a written tenancy agreement: as long as you are paying rent and have their agreement to live there, you will still have legal rights to live in the home. However, if you are not paying rent or making any financial contribution to the home which could count as rent, your partner will probably be able to evict you whenever they like without getting a court order.

What if we're married or in a civil partnership?

If you are married or have registered a civil partnership, you will have a right to live in the family home until you are divorced or your partnership is dissolved, so you won't need to draw up a formal agreement.

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Separate your finances

If you have any joint insurance policies (for example, contents insurance or travel insurance) you may wish to separate these as well.

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Contact the benefits agency

If you are claiming benefits, you should let the relevant benefits agency know your change of circumstances as soon as possible. If you and your partner are no longer a couple, you may be entitled to more money, but it may be difficult to prove that you have split up if you are still both living at the same address.

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Set down ground rules

If the arrangement is to be a success, it's important that you lay down certain ground rules, in particular about guests - will you feel comfortable if your ex brings a new partner into the home? You'll also need to decide how you'll divide up the expenses and responsibilities of running the household. It's probably best to put this in writing, to avoid arguments in the future.