Cohabiting: what this means in the law
It is important to consider having a cohabitation agreement drawn up if you are not married or in a civil partnership. If things go wrong, you then have some protection in family law.
The reasons for this concern how partnerships such as marriage or civil partnership are recognised in law, but living together or cohabiting is not. According to the law, it makes no difference if partners have lived together for years or if they have children. According to the law, living together or cohabiting means has no legal recognition.
This can cause problems if a couple splits, as it can be very difficult to claim a share in the family home or a previous partner’s finances. There is not the legal protection in place to safeguard your future.
This is true even though, according to Resolution (a UK family law and justice dispute resolution campaigning body):
- There are 3.3 million cohabiting families in the UK, this figure is on the rise.
- 1 in 5 of every families cohabits
- Nearly half of people in the UK mistakenly believe that cohabiting couples are protected by ‘common-law marriage’. This is not the case.
You can watch this Youtube video on ‘cohabitation nation’ exploring how the law sees cohabiting couples and what your rights are.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdvcxKRIKwY&feature=emb_title”