Being married in COP means that all assets going into the marriage and accumulated during the marriage will be shared 50/50 in the event of a divorce. It also means that both parties are jointly responsible for all debts accumulated during the marriage.

So what are the advantages? Well, if you marry someone with more wealth than you, and you get divorced, the assets are split down the middle regardless of who purchased them.

Division of assets

The truth is anyone who has accumulated wealth would more than likely opt for an ante-nuptial contract (ANC) contract. The downside of a COP marriage is that if your partner racks up debt and gets to a point where they cannot pay, the banks can take your assets to offset the debt. So even if you run your finances responsibly you could end up with losing your assets and worse still, getting a judgment on behalf of your errant spouse.

It is far better to spend the money and get an ANC with or without accrual. Most people opt for "with accrual". An ANC without accrual means that when you go into a marriage, his assets remain his, her assets remain hers and assets accumulated during the marriage will belong to their respective buyers and nothing will be shared in the event of a divorce.

"With accrual" means that assets going into the marriage remain the property of their respective owners but assets accrued during the marriage will be shared in the event of a divorce. You can stipulate the percentages of how the assets will be divided if you wish to.

Say for example the woman has a successful business and earns double that of her spouse, she can stipulate that he is entitled to only 25 percent of the assets. This is fine if her husband believes that he will never earn as much as her but if he happens to win the lottery he will only be entitled to 25 percent. So an ANC with accrual has to be carefully considered before signing on the dotted line.