Live-in Relationship Agreement in Delhi – ₹11,000

Quick answer: A live-in relationship between two consenting adults is lawful in India, and the Delhi High Court confirmed in August 2026 that families cannot interfere. But there is no government live-in certificate in Delhi, and a live-in agreement is not a marriage: it creates no mahr, no inheritance and no spouse status. Muslim personal law does not recognise such relationships, and courts have refused protection where a Muslim partner was already married. For ₹11,000 we draft and notarise a detailed agreement covering consent, expenses, property, children, privacy and separation, for two adults who are both unmarried, divorced or widowed.

Last reviewed: 22 September 2026

Some couples are not ready to marry, or not yet able to. One partner may be waiting for a divorce decree, the families may need time, a job transfer may be pending, or the couple may simply want to live together first. In Delhi, thousands of adult couples share a flat without being married, and many of them are Muslim, or a Muslim and a partner of another faith. For them the practical problems are real: a landlord who asks for a marriage certificate, a housing society that objects, relatives who threaten, a hospital that asks who the "next of kin" is, and no clarity about who owns what if they separate.

A live-in relationship agreement addresses those problems. For ₹11,000 we consult with both partners, draft a detailed agreement for your situation, have it executed on e-stamp paper and notarised, and help with the related papers such as the rent agreement and tenant verification. Before you book, you should know exactly what this document is and what it is not. We explain that plainly below, including the specific legal position for Muslims.

We also want to be clear about why the price is higher than our nikah service. A nikah follows a settled form that has been used for centuries. A live-in agreement has no settled form: every couple's finances, housing, families and plans are different, and the document has to be built around them clause by clause, with care taken not to promise anything the law will not deliver. That takes a proper consultation with both partners and careful drafting, which is what you are paying for.

Is a Live-in Relationship Legal in India?

Yes, between two adults who choose it. The Supreme Court and High Courts have said so repeatedly.

So the relationship itself is lawful for adults. What the law does not do is treat a live-in relationship as a marriage for most purposes. There is no mahr, no automatic inheritance between the partners, no right to divorce because there is no marriage, and the partners are not each other's legal spouse for passports, visas, insurance or pensions.

The Position for Muslims

This is where honesty matters most. Muslim personal law does not recognise a relationship between a man and a woman outside nikah, and most Muslim families and scholars regard it as impermissible. The law of the land and religious law are different questions, and a live-in agreement only deals with the first.

• Two unmarried Muslim adults who live together are not committing an offence under Indian law, and they can record their arrangement in an agreement. Their religious community may take a different view; that is a matter for them.
• A Muslim who is already married is in a different position. In May 2024 the Allahabad High Court held that a Muslim man with a living spouse could not claim protection for a live-in relationship, observing that Islamic tenets do not permit it while the marriage subsists. Other High Courts have been divided on protection for live-in couples where one partner is married, and the Rajasthan High Court referred that question to a larger bench in January 2025.
• A married Muslim woman cannot lawfully enter another marriage while her marriage subsists, and a live-in relationship in that situation carries serious legal risks for both partners.

Our rule: we draft live-in agreements only for two adults who are both unmarried, divorced with proof, or widowed. We do not draft an agreement for anyone who is currently married to someone else, whatever their religion. If you are waiting for a divorce, wait until it is final.

Interfaith Live-in Couples

Many live-in couples who come to us are a Muslim and a Hindu, Sikh or Christian partner. Some are not ready to marry; others want to marry but cannot agree on whether and how either should convert. For them:

• A live-in agreement records the arrangement without anyone converting.
• When they are ready to marry, the Special Marriage Act allows marriage without conversion. We handle that through our Nikah + Special Marriage Act service.
• Several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana, regulate religious conversion by law. Couples connected to those states should never rush into a conversion for the sake of a nikah.
• If families threaten, the Delhi High Court's recent decisions confirm that adult couples can seek police protection whether or not they are married.

Why Couples Want an Agreement

What Our Agreement Covers

1. Parties and capacity: full names, ages with age proof, addresses, and each partner's declaration that they are an adult and not married to anyone else (or divorced or widowed, with details).
2. Free consent: each partner's statement that they are entering the arrangement voluntarily, without pressure from anyone.
3. Nature of the relationship: that the partners are living together by choice, and that this agreement does not by itself create a marriage.
4. Residence: the address of the shared home, the name(s) on the rent agreement, and who is responsible for tenant verification.
5. Expenses: how rent, utilities, groceries and other household costs are shared.
6. Separate property: each partner's assets before and during the relationship remain their own unless listed as joint.
7. Joint property: items bought together and how they will be divided if the relationship ends.
8. Debts: each partner remains responsible for their own loans and credit cards unless both agree otherwise.
9. Health and emergencies: each partner's wish that the other be informed and allowed to assist in a medical emergency, and to be named as emergency contact.
10. Children: acknowledgement that any child born is the child of both, and both partners' duty to maintain the child.
11. Privacy: neither partner will share private photographs, messages or information about the other without consent, during or after the relationship.
12. Ending the arrangement: notice, who stays in the flat for how long, return of personal belongings, division of joint items.
13. Intention to marry (optional): if the couple intend to marry, the route (nikah or Special Marriage Act) and an approximate timeframe.
14. Disputes: an attempt at mediation before any legal step.
15. What the agreement cannot do: a clause recording that nothing in it takes away either partner's rights under laws that cannot be waived, such as the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act or a child's right to maintenance.

What No Agreement Can Do

• It cannot make you married. For that you need a nikah or a Special Marriage Act marriage.
• It cannot give inheritance rights. Under Muslim law a live-in partner is not an heir. If you want your partner to receive property after your death, a Muslim can make a will for up to one-third of the estate in favour of a non-heir, subject to the rules of Muslim law, or you can hold property jointly or make nominations. Take advice.
• It cannot waive protection against violence. A woman in a relationship in the nature of marriage is protected by the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, and no clause can remove that.
• It cannot cut off a child's rights. A child is entitled to maintenance from both parents.
• It cannot bind third parties. A landlord, society or employer is not bound by your agreement; it is evidence of your arrangement, not a licence.
• It cannot protect an illegal relationship. If either partner is a minor, or is married to someone else, the agreement offers no protection and may be evidence against them.

Delhi Is Not Uttarakhand

Couples sometimes ask whether they must "register" a live-in relationship. In Uttarakhand, the Uniform Civil Code and its 2025 rules require live-in relationships within that state, and residents of the state in such relationships, to be registered with the government, with penalties for failing to do so. Delhi has no such law. In Delhi, a live-in relationship between two adults does not need to be registered anywhere, and there is no government register or certificate for it. If either partner lives in or moves to Uttarakhand, check the rules there.

Renting a Flat Together in Delhi

The single biggest practical problem for live-in couples in Delhi is housing. Some landlords refuse unmarried couples; some societies object. A few practical points:

• Rent agreement in both names: this gives both partners a right to be in the flat and makes the arrangement transparent. We can prepare it as part of this service.
• Tenant verification: Delhi Police require landlords to verify tenants. Both partners should be verified; it protects you as much as the landlord.
• Be honest with the landlord: do not claim to be married if you are not. False claims can be used against you later.
• Society rules: your tenancy is with the flat owner. A housing society can regulate common areas under its bye-laws, and some object to unmarried tenants; disputes about this turn on the bye-laws and, if needed, the courts. A clear rent agreement and verification put you in the strongest position.
• Hotels: no law forbids two adults from sharing a hotel room; the Madras High Court said so in 2019. Hotels may have their own policies.

Money and Property: Getting the Details Right

Most disputes between separating live-in partners are not about feelings but about money: the security deposit, the car, the gold, the sofa, a loan taken in one name for both. Married couples have a body of law to fall back on. Live-in partners mainly have what they wrote down. These are the points we go through in detail.

Keep bank records of what each of you pays. A clause is only as good as the evidence behind it.

Wills, Nominations and the One-Third Rule

Because a live-in partner is not an heir under Muslim law, couples who want to provide for each other after death need to plan. The main tools are:

• A will (wasiyat): under Muslim law a person can bequeath up to one-third of their net estate by will. Under Sunni law, a bequest to a person who is not an heir, such as a live-in partner, is valid within one-third; beyond that it needs the heirs' consent. Shia law has somewhat different rules. A will should be properly drafted and witnessed.
• Joint ownership: property bought in joint names passes according to the form of ownership and the law of succession; take advice on how to hold it.
• Nominations: many banks, insurers and investment schemes allow any person to be nominated. A nominee receives the amount, but whether they hold it for the legal heirs depends on the kind of asset and the law. Nomination is useful but not a substitute for a will.
• Life insurance: a policy can name the partner as nominee or beneficiary, subject to the insurer's rules.

If providing for your partner matters to you, a nikah or a Special Marriage Act marriage is by far the simplest way. A spouse is an heir; a partner is not.

Live-in, Nikah and Special Marriage Act Compared

If Families Threaten

Many of our live-in couples, especially interfaith couples, face pressure from relatives. The law is on the side of adults who choose to live together.

1. Emergency: call 112. Women can also call the 181 women's helpline.
2. Written complaint: give a written complaint to the SHO of your local police station, and a copy to the DCP of the district, describing the threats with names, dates and any messages. Keep the receipt.
3. Your own statements: each partner should keep a signed, notarised statement that they are an adult living by choice. The live-in agreement includes this.
4. High Court protection: the Delhi High Court has repeatedly granted police protection to adult couples, married or in live-in relationships. In August 2026, in Uma Bharti v. GNCTD, it held that no parent, relative or friend has a right to interfere with the choice of consenting adults.
5. Safe houses: Delhi's standard operating procedure for couples facing threats provides for police assistance and safe houses. Ask the police or the helpline.

Do not respond to threats with threats, and do not post about the dispute on social media. Keep records and let the police and courts act.

A Woman's Rights in a Live-in Relationship

• Domestic violence protection: the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 protects a woman in a "relationship in the nature of marriage". She can seek protection orders, a residence order, monetary relief and custody orders. Whether a particular relationship qualifies depends on the factors set out by the Supreme Court in Velusamy and Indra Sarma, such as duration, a shared household and holding out as a couple.
• No mahr, no marital maintenance as such: without a nikah there is no mahr. Maintenance as a wife under the general maintenance law is not straightforward for a live-in partner, although the domestic violence law provides monetary relief where it applies.
• Her own property and income: remain hers. The agreement records this.
• Her documents: she should keep her own ID, bank documents and a copy of the agreement.

Children Born in a Live-in Relationship

The Supreme Court has held that where a man and woman have lived together for a long time as husband and wife, the law may presume marriage, and children born of such a relationship have been treated as legitimate in several decisions. Whatever the parents' status, a child is entitled to maintenance from both parents, and both parents' names can be entered on the birth certificate. Our agreement records both partners' acknowledgement of any child and their duty to maintain the child. If a child is expected, many couples decide to marry; we can guide you through a nikah or the Special Marriage Act.

How the Service Works

1. Private consultation: we speak to both partners, together and, briefly, separately, to confirm each is an adult, unmarried or legally free, and entering the arrangement voluntarily.
2. Documents: both partners send ID, age proof, address proof, and proof of divorce or widowhood if relevant.
3. Your terms: we go through the contents list above and you decide each point: expenses, property, exit, intention to marry.
4. Draft: we send the draft agreement. Both partners read it and ask for changes.
5. Execution: both sign on e-stamp paper before a notary, with photographs.
6. Related papers: if needed, we prepare a rent agreement in both names and explain tenant verification.
7. Handover: each partner receives an original or attested copy.

Documents Needed

• Photo ID of both partners (Aadhaar, voter ID, passport, driving licence)
• Age proof of both (Class 10 certificate, birth certificate or passport)
• Current address proof, and the address of the shared home
• Four passport photographs each and one joint photograph
• If divorced: the divorce document or decree; if widowed: the death certificate
• Landlord's details, if we are also preparing the rent agreement

Why It Costs ₹11,000

A live-in agreement is not a form with blanks. It needs a real consultation, careful drafting of fifteen or more clauses around your finances, property and plans, revisions until both partners are satisfied, execution and notarisation, and often a rent agreement and guidance on tenant verification. The price includes all of this, the e-stamp paper and the notary's fee. There are no hidden charges; if you want extra copies or additional documents, we tell you the cost first.

From Live-in to Marriage

Many of our live-in couples later marry. When you are ready:

Marrying ends the uncertainty that a live-in agreement can only manage: it gives mahr, maintenance as a spouse, inheritance, and recognition for passports, visas and insurance.

Faith, Family and Your Decision

We are a marriage service. We believe most couples are better protected by marriage than by any agreement, and we tell every live-in couple so. At the same time, adults make their own choices, and a couple who will live together anyway are better off with clear paperwork than without it.

For Muslim partners, the religious question is real. Nikah in Islam is simple: consent, two witnesses and mahr. It does not need a large wedding, family approval of every detail, or expense. Some couples who come to us for a live-in agreement realise, once they see how straightforward a nikah is, that marriage is closer than they thought. Others have real obstacles, such as a partner of another faith who will not convert, or families who need time, and for them the agreement is a bridge.

Whatever you decide, decide it together, freely, and with full knowledge of the consequences. That is the only thing we insist on.

Questions to Talk About Before Moving In

1. Do we both want this, or is one of us agreeing to please the other?
2. Do we intend to marry? If so, by nikah or under the Special Marriage Act, and roughly when?
3. If one of us is of another faith, has either of us been asked to convert, and how do we feel about it?
4. What will we tell our families, and when?
5. How will we share rent, bills and household costs?
6. What do we each own now, and what will we buy together?
7. If we separate, who stays in the flat, and for how long?
8. What happens if a child is expected?
9. Who is each other's emergency contact at work and in hospital records?
10. If either family threatens us, what will we do and whom will we call?

Couples who have discussed these ten questions before the consultation find the drafting quick and the agreement accurate. Couples who have not often discover, usefully, that they need to.

If the Relationship Ends

• Follow the notice and exit terms in the agreement.
• Return each other's belongings and divide joint items as agreed.
• Settle the security deposit and any shared loan.
• Remove each other as nominees where appropriate, and update emergency contacts.
• Delete or return private photographs and messages; sharing them without consent is a criminal offence.
• If there is a child, agree on custody, contact and maintenance, in writing, and seek a court order if you cannot agree.
• If there is violence or harassment, the domestic violence law, the police and the 181 helpline are available.

Special Situations

One partner is a foreign national

A live-in relationship gives a foreign partner no immigration status in India. They must hold a valid visa in their own right and follow the Foreigners Regional Registration Office rules that apply to them. Hotels and landlords must report foreign guests and tenants under the rules for foreigners. If the relationship is long-term, marriage under the Special Marriage Act is the route to a spouse-based visa. See our NRI Muslim nikah service for couples with a partner abroad.

Same-sex couples

The Supreme Court decriminalised same-sex relationships in Navtej Singh Johar (2018). In Supriyo Chakraborty (October 2023) it declined to recognise same-sex marriage, and review petitions were dismissed in January 2025, so same-sex couples cannot marry in India at present. They can live together lawfully, and in August 2024 the Finance Ministry clarified that there is no bar on queer couples opening joint bank accounts or naming a partner as nominee. A live-in agreement is one of the few tools available to record such a partnership, and we prepare them on the same terms.

A partner with children from an earlier marriage

The agreement can record that the children live in the household, who is responsible for their expenses, and that nothing in it affects the children's rights against their other parent or the custody arrangements already in place. It cannot change a custody order.

Students

Many couples are students in their early twenties. The law does not stop adult students from living together. Practical issues are more pressing: hostel rules, scholarships based on marital status, and parents who pay fees. Think these through before signing anything.

Partners working in the Gulf or elsewhere abroad

Live-in relationships are not lawful in several countries, including many in the Gulf. An Indian live-in agreement gives no protection there. If you intend to live abroad together, marry first.

Tenant Verification in Delhi

Delhi Police require landlords to have tenants verified, and the process can be done online through the Delhi Police citizen services portal or at the local police station. Each adult tenant fills in their details and ID. For live-in couples, verification of both partners is strongly advisable: it shows transparency, protects the landlord, and gives each of you an official record of residence at the address, which helps with Aadhaar, bank and other address updates. Keep a copy of the verification receipt with your agreement.

How the Agreement Is Laid Out

Every agreement is drafted for the couple, but this is the usual structure, so you know what to expect. Words in square brackets are filled in from your consultation.

What the Notary Checks

At signing, the notary confirms each partner's identity from original ID, sees that both sign in person, and records the attestation. A good notary will also ask each partner whether they understand the document and are signing voluntarily. Answer honestly. If either partner hesitates, stop; an agreement signed under pressure is worth nothing and can be evidence against the person who applied the pressure.

Common Mistakes

1. Believing a notarised agreement is a "live-in certificate" or a marriage.
2. Entering a live-in relationship while still married to someone else, or while a divorce is pending.
3. Telling the landlord you are married when you are not.
4. Not keeping any written record of who paid for what, then fighting over it on separation.
5. Assuming the partner will inherit automatically.
6. Signing an agreement drafted by one partner's friend or relative without reading it.
7. Rushing into a conversion to satisfy one family, instead of waiting to marry under the Special Marriage Act.
8. Keeping all documents in one partner's hands.
9. Ignoring threats instead of recording them with the police early.

Four Delhi Couples

The Noida professionals

A Muslim software engineer and her Hindu colleague, both 28, rented a flat in East Delhi. Neither wanted to convert and their families needed time. Their agreement recorded equal sharing of rent and expenses, their separate savings, and their intention to marry under the Special Marriage Act within a year. Eleven months later they did.

The pending divorce

A man whose divorce case was still pending wanted an agreement with his new partner. We declined until the decree was final, and explained why: while he remained married, the arrangement carried legal risk for both. Once the decree came, they chose a nikah instead.

The worried brother

A young woman from Jamia Nagar lived with her partner in South Delhi. Her brother told the police she had been abducted. She showed the police her notarised agreement and her own statement that she was an adult living there by choice, and gave a statement in person. The police closed the matter and recorded her wish not to be contacted.

The landlord

A couple in Laxmi Nagar were asked by their landlord to leave because they were not married. With a fresh rent agreement in both names, tenant verification completed and their live-in agreement, the landlord agreed to continue the tenancy.

Checklist

• ☐ Both partners are adults (18 or over) with age proof
• ☐ Neither is married to anyone else (divorce or widowhood proven if relevant)
• ☐ Both are entering the arrangement freely
• ☐ Expenses, property and exit terms discussed and agreed
• ☐ Rent agreement in both names, and tenant verification
• ☐ Each partner holds a copy of the agreement and their own documents
• ☐ Emergency contacts and nominations updated where possible
• ☐ A plan, if any, for marriage by nikah or under the Special Marriage Act

Confidentiality

Live-in couples often need discretion more than anyone. We do not contact families, employers or landlords without your instruction. Your documents are seen only by the notary. We do not publish names or photographs, and our case examples above are anonymised and altered.

Couples Across Delhi

We prepare live-in agreements for couples all over Delhi: in the student and working areas around Jamia Nagar, Okhla, Kalkaji and Lajpat Nagar; in East Delhi's Laxmi Nagar, Preet Vihar and Mayur Vihar, popular with those working in Noida; in Saket, Malviya Nagar and Hauz Khas; in North Campus areas such as Mukherjee Nagar and Kamla Nagar; and in Dwarka, Rohini and Janakpuri. Many couples work in Gurugram or Noida and rent in Delhi. The agreement is the same wherever you live.

How We Help

We give both partners an honest explanation of what a live-in agreement can and cannot do, including the position for Muslims, draft an agreement specific to your finances, home and plans, arrange notarisation, prepare a rent agreement if you need one, and guide you on safety and, when you are ready, on marriage. We do not draft agreements for anyone under 18 or anyone married to someone else, we do not describe a live-in agreement as a marriage or a certificate, and we do not provide witnesses.

Questions and Answers

Sources and Official References

Legal points on this page were checked against these sources. Procedures and portals change, so confirm current details before applying.

• S. Khushboo v. Kanniammal, Supreme Court, 2010 – Indian Kanoon
• Indra Sarma v. V.K.V. Sarma, Supreme Court, 26 November 2013 – Indian Kanoon
• Nandakumar v. State of Kerala, Supreme Court, 2018 – SCC Online
• Uma Bharti v. GNCTD, Delhi High Court, 13 August 2026 – Verdictum
• Allahabad High Court on live-in relationships and Muslims with a living spouse (May 2024) – Business Standard
• Rajasthan High Court refers live-in protection question to larger bench, January 2025 – SCC Online
• Uniform Civil Code Rules, Uttarakhand, 2025 (live-in registration) – Government of Uttarakhand
• The Special Marriage Act, 1954 – India Code

This page is general information, not legal advice for your specific case. Call +91 8376863962 for advice on your situation.

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