In a recent landmark case, the Supreme Court has ruled that denying an unmarried mother of four children a widowed parent’s allowance is illegal. It is expected that this will put pressure on the government to consider modernising the law by extending the rights of unmarried cohabiting couples.

Tom Fisher, Family Law Solicitor at Jackson Lees, comments:

According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2017 the number of cohabiting families was 3.3million – a figure that has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Society has changed but the law has been unable to keep up, leading to complex and costly legal disputes when couples separate.

It is not uncommon for our family lawyers to encounter couples and individuals seeking help as they have mistakenly believed that they have the same legal and financial protection owed to married couples. Furthermore, many people think of marriage as an archaic ceremony with little purpose, which can lead people to choose not to legalise their relationship. By disregarding the legal importance of marriage, many individuals sleepwalk into an economically vulnerable position.

For example, under the current law it is possible for an individual to walk away from a relationship that has lasted for decades without taking any financial responsibility for the other person. This can lead to injustices, especially for the financially weaker partner. Often this tends to be the mother in a family who has chosen to stay at home and raise the children to enable the father to work. The mother in this instance could of course challenge her partner, but the court would take a range of factors into consideration when deciding whether to award the aggrieved party with money or assets.

On the flip side, what if you have worked hard to purchase a property and you want to avoid your partner being able to make a claim against you in the event that the relationship ends? We recognise that not all couples wish to marry or enter into civil partnerships, but there still exists a need to protect assets or secure your rights. A way in which to achieve this is to ask a family law expert to draw up a cohabitation agreement. This will stipulate who owns what, and to what extent. It can cover how partners will support children beyond any legal requirements, and also how debts, joint purchases and bank accounts are dealt with.

Asking your partner to enter into a cohabitation agreement may seem a little less romantic than popping the question, but thinking of the future and being realistic can prevent financial stress as well as heartache. Settling issues such as this at the outset can help you to agree things in a fair manner without letting any spite or hard feelings that can arise at relationship breakdown cloud your judgement.

Provided you both make sure to obtain independent legal advice, the court will find a cohabitation agreement to be legally binding. That said, the mere existence of an agreement tends to deter people from fighting it out at court.

If you would like to talk to one of our specialist Family Law advisers about Unmarried Couples Rights please request a call back or send us a message today.