Cohabitation battles

Rodney Hylton-Potts said

Many people wrongly assume their rights are covered by common law marriage as a result of cohabitation, but there is no such thing as a common law wife.

The law

The orders available to spouses do not apply to cohabitants, who have normatively relied on strict contractual law and property law principles on relationship breakdown.

Cohabitants have no right to claim maintenance for themselves; they are not automatically next of kin for one another and do not automatically inherit the other’s property when one dies intestate.

However, steps can be taken by cohabitants during their relationship in order to minimise vulnerability. For example putting a rented or owned home into joint names as beneficial tenants in common, rather than as joint tenants.

There are some legal similarities between cohabitants and married couples who separate. Children are generally to be treated equally and maintenance for children is equally available under the child support legislation.

The most common disputes arise around ownership, occupation and division of equity in the home they shared.

In recent years there has been a shift in the awareness that people have of their legal rights. This awareness needs to be extended so that adults make informed decisions about the manner in which they choose to conduct their lives in an atmosphere of knowledge upon which they can be bound. In particular it needs to be extended to cohabitants.

For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or email [email protected].