Common-law marriage myth highlights desperate need for reform
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Helen Jenks, The University of Law
Your common-law wife and husband do not exist.
Next month will see the latest stage in the latest attempt to improve the legal standing for people that live together but choose not to marry. With nearly six million unmarried couples living outside marriage or a civil partnership in the UK, there is a real urgency for legal clarity for cohabitants who find themselves separating.
Not least, because of the persistence of the so called “common-law marriage myth” where assumptions still remain that if you live with a partner for a set amount of time you automatically gain a right to certain financial remedies in the event of separation. This is simply not the case.
In February 2013, the charity OnePlusOne found that 47% of UK citizens aged between 18 and 34 mistakenly assumed that cohabiting couples have the same legal rights as their married counterparts. This was a dismal improvement from the British Social Attitudes survey in 2008 which found that ...
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