Love on the farm: A risky business? Marital settlements, cohabiting agreements and divorces in family farms – Kjærlighet i landbruket – en risikosport? Ekteskap, samboerskap og skillsmisser i landbruket

Love on the farm: A risky business? Marital settlements, cohabiting agreements and divorces in family farms The main objectives are to explore, a) whether and how farm couples arrange contracts regulating their economic relationships (i.e. marriage settlement or cohabitation contract) and b) what happens in case of a divorce or a cohabitation break-up. A gender perspective is of particular interest in order to explore both whether there are differences between women's and men's experiences and whether these differences, in turn, impact upon the handling of break-up situations and the economic consequences of these. Subgoals: – Identifying the marital status among all farmers in Norway (proportion of married, cohabiting and divorced farmers). Does the marital status differ depending on farm size and age of farm couples? – Identify how common it is among married and cohabiting farm couples to arrange contracts (marriage settlements or cohabitation agreements) – How do a selected number of marriage settlements reflect and ensure individual rights and collective family farm goals respectively? Do these issues differ depending on the principal farm owner's gender (odelsberettiget)? What are the positions of spouses and how are their contributions valued? – How do farm couples discuss property issues? What kind of legal advice do they seek and receive when entering their relationship and from whom do they receive this advice? – What happens when a farm couple decides to split? How do they reach their decisions on how they divide farm assets? Do certain settlement agreements facilitate a smoother and fairer resource allocation?