Government stalling leaves cohabiting couples at risk

The Government has backed away from proposals to give two million cohabiting couples similar rights to those of married couples.

It means many cohabitees remain vulnerable and could find themselves thousands of pounds out of pocket if their relationship breaks up.

More than 50% of people still believe that there is such a thing as common law marriage giving cohabiting couples legal protection, according to the latest British Social Attitudes report published in January.

That is in spite of Government campaigns over the last three years pointing out that common law marriage has no legal meaning and is just a myth; a very dangerous myth unfortunately because it gives people a false sense of security in which they think they have rights which simply do not exist.

Family lawyers regularly come across distressing cases where a cohabiting partner suffers a clear injustice.

There are numerous pitfalls. For example, if your home is in your ex-partner’s name then you will have no automatic right to stay there if you are asked to leave. Nor will you automatically be entitled to a financial share in the house, even if you helped to pay for it over several years. Your former partner won’t have to pay maintenance for you, even if you gave up your job to look after the children while he or she went out to build a lucrative career.

Last summer the Law Commission put forward some proposals that would give cohabiting couples more legal protection. The main recommendation was that couples who split up should be entitled to financial settlements which reflect their contribution to the relationship.

Courts would be able to order one of the partners to pay lump sums or sell their home to provide the other with a fair settlement. While this would have been a major improvement it would still be far short of the protection created by marriage. Now, however, the Government has baulked at providing even this level of protection, even though it is already available in Scotland. Ministers say no action will be taken until they have had more time to consider all the cost implications. They have given no indication of when they will make a decision and the fear is that the proposals will simply be shelved.

Resolution, the association representing family lawyers, has criticised the decision saying it means there will be more distress and hardship for cohabitees.

Given the Government’s reluctance to legislate, cohabiting couples who don’t wish to get married have little choice but to provide their own legal protection.

Ownership of the family home is one of the most important issues. If it is in just one person’s name then the other partner could lose out. You may want to consider owning it as joint tenants or tenants in common which will make a huge difference to your rights.

If you don’t already have a will then you should draw one up as soon as possible. Otherwise your estate will pass to your relatives rather than your partner.

Unmarried fathers don’t automatically have parental responsibility for their children but they can acquire it with the agreement of the mother or by applying to a court. It is clearly better to deal with the matter while your relationship is strong rather than wait until after it has broken down.

Many couples protect themselves by drawing up living together agreements which state in advance how their assets should be divided if their relationship fails. A few years ago the government started a campaign urging couples to draw up such agreements to cover things like finances, property and pensions.

Some people may feel embarrassed at first to be making such legal arrangements as it seems that they don’t fully trust each other. However, such concerns soon disappear and most couples end up feeling their relationship is stronger because both partners feel more secure.