Cohabitant rights reform

Are there any proposals for new cohabitation laws?

Over the last two decades there have been a number of calls for changes in the law to give cohabiting couples greater 'protections', including:

• In 2007 the Law Commission (the independent body that makes recommendations to Parliament on law changes where it thinks they are needed) recommended a reform of the law regarding cohabitants (see Law Commission: Cohabitation). It did not recommend that cohabitants be treated the same as married couples but proposed that a new scheme should apply to certain cohabiting couples (those who have a child together or who have lived together for a minimum period of around two to five years) unless they opt out. The scheme would be designed to remedy a situation where one cohabitant might be suffering a continuing economic disadvantage as a result of contributions made to the relationship, while the other might be retaining a benefit. It would, in other words, seek to ensure that the pluses and minuses of the relationship are balanced between the couple.
• In Parliament:
  • Cohabitation Rights bills were introduced in the House of Lords by Lord Lester in 2008 and Lord Marks in 2014 and again in 2016, but these were not supported by the government of the day and did not progress due to lack of parliamentary time. 
  • In 2022, the House of Commons' Women and Equalities Committee (which holds the government to account on equalities law) noted that the current lack of legal protections for cohabitants primarily affects women, especially those from ethnic minority backgrounds and those who have a religious-only marriage. This influential committee recommended a targeted information campaign to debunk the myth of the common law marriage and also recommended law reform along the lines of that proposed by the Law Commission in 2007 (see UK Parliament: The rights of cohabiting partners) 
• Resolution, a nationwide membership organisation for family lawyers, has for the last 25 years been running an ongoing campaign for new cohabitation laws that give rights on relationship breakdown, and has been working to raise awareness so that cohabiting couples can take measures to protect themselves.
• Despite widespread judicial support for reform of the law in this area there has been a marked reluctance from governments to take this forward. However, the Labour Government has given some early indications that it may be prepared to take a more reformist approach. We will update as and when there are material developments in this respect.
• As a law firm dealing with these issues on a daily basis, we were involved in responding to the consultations run by the Law Commission and the House of Commons' Women and Equalities Committee prior to the production of their reports, and we have consistently supported Resolution's campaign as well as created our own content - see, for example our video 'Cohabitation – Get informed and get protected' and podcast episode 'Living together' with Marielle Frostrup.

Absent law reform, many cohabitants (often women) and their children, remain vulnerable on relationship breakdown, and many of those are unaware of the risks they face. Law reform is not, however, without controversy as people's circumstances and viewpoints differ. For example, some cohabitants choose to cohabit precisely because they do not wish to enter into a state-recognised legally regulated relationship and instead prefer to retain autonomy rather than have a law imposed on them.