Common-law marriage - a peculiarly persistent myth
Back to Topic
Click to Print
Useful Websites
Glossary Term Selection
There’s no single way of ‘doing’ family in modern Britain: family life and personal relationships have changed considerably over the last few decades –from the introduction of same-sex marriage, to a marked increase in the number of mixed-race couples, or a rising tide of flat-sharing and young adults moving back in with their parents. Nowadays, cohabiting couples (both opposite and same-sex couples) are the fastest growing type of family, more than doubling from 1.5 million families in 1996 to 3.3 million families in 2017, with 15% of dependent children living in cohabiting couple families.1
While British society is evolving, policy is not always keeping pace with these changes; in England and Wales, cohabitants have no legal status and, therefore, no automatic rights in most circumstances – especially if the relationship comes to an end. For example, if one partner dies there’s no right for the other to inherit part of their estate – regardless of how long they have lived together...
Want to see the rest of this article?
Would you like to see the rest of this article and all the other benefits that Issues Online can provide with?
- Useful related articles
- Video and multimedia references
- Statistical information and reference material
- Glossary of terms
- Key Facts and figures
- Related assignments
- Resource material and websites
