Living together: Why rules on cohabitation need to change

Cohabiting couples in England and Wales are still surprised to find out that they acquire no ‘common law marriage' rights in this country simply by living together and have no automatic entitlement to financial support upon separation. For the 3.7 million cohabitants in this country, this means that those in committed relationships who live together but are unmarried have very limited options if they were to separate, and the options they do have can be time-consuming and costly. Claims will usually be limited to property law, with much depending on who owns the property and who paid ...