Cohabitees - the law

Unmarried couples that live together have fewer legal rights than married couples. TheSite.org demystifies the jargon.

What are cohabitees?

Any couple that lives together, including same-sex relationships. The law is the same whether the parties are the same sex or not.

The term 'common law wife' or husband holds a widespread misconception that after a certain period of time they will acquire the same rights as an actual husband/wife. However this is not the case.

The Law

• Money: Cohabitees, unlike married couples, are under no legal duty to look after one another financially, unless they have made a specific agreement to do so. You and your partner are legally responsible for your own debts, the whole of debts in joint names, and debts for which you have 'joint and several' legal responsibility.

• Tax: Cohabitees are now taxed in the same way as married couples, they also have the same rights under benefit rules.

• Children: Both parents have legal responsibility to look after their children until they have completed full-time education. Unmarried fathers should sign a parental responsibility order. However once the new Children and Adoption Bill has been passed, unmarried fathers will automatically have the same rights as married fathers, providing they signed the birth register. Lesbian or gay partners have no automatic parental responsibility for their partner's children. You may be able to get responsibility through a court order or as a step-parent if you are in a civil partnership.

• Property: If the relationship between two unmarried people breaks down then their property rights are unaffected - they remain exactly the same after the split as before. Any property continues to belong to its owner and that is usually the person who paid for it, and has their name on the documents. Thus jointly owned property may need to be sold upon break up, and the proceeds of sale divided according to strict property rights.

• Death: If your partner dies and doesn't leave a will, you won't automatically inherit anything unless you own property together. Unlike married or civil partners, you will not be exempt from paying inheritance tax. Naturally, there is some room for dispute over this but that is the over-riding principle and unlike in divorce cases, the courts have no jurisdiction to ignore it.

Legal contracts

In the case where, say, a house is to be bought jointly by an unmarried couple it is sensible to enter into a written agreement as to who has contributed what and what is to happen if the parties later split up. This can save a lot of awkwardness later and is something that a solicitor can easily do.

Other considerations

There are a number of other issues that an unmarried couple may want to consider. For instance, you are not actually legally related in any way and so if you want to leave anything or everything to your partner when you die, make a will stating so. If that is not done then the beneficiaries may well be the next of kin.

Similarly, there may be issues as to involvement in decisions on medical treatment and so on because it must always be remembered that the partner of someone who is unmarried is not the next of kin. Legally there is no definition of who is your next of kin but it is generally assumed to be your closest blood relative e.g. mother, father, son, daughter etc.

All changing?

The Government has revealed new proposals that could award live-in couples who break up similar legal rights to married couples. The reform will come in a family justice bill and will mean that cohabiting couples who have been together for over two years will have the right to:

• Court settlements over homes, maintenance payments and lump sum settlements;
• Those with children together would automatically qualify for a settlement if they break up, which will include child support compensation;
• Compensation awards settled in court valued in terms of how much they gave to the relationship emotionally and financially;
• Pension-splitting could be applied to split couples in the same way as it is to divorced couples.