Resolution, the family justice campaign body, has backed calls from a cross-party committee of MPs to give greater protection to cohabiting couples.
Reacting to the publication of the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee report on The Rights of Cohabiting Partners, Graeme Fraser, Chair of Resolution’s Cohabitation Committee, said:
“The lack of rights for cohabiting couples has seen millions of people – often women – at significant financial risk if their relationship ends or their partner passes away. Now is the time for ministers to finally grasp the nettle and reform laws to ensure cohabiting families have better legal protection.”
He added:
“Cohabiting families are the fastest growing family type in England and Wales and yet lack even the most basic legal protections. Ministers have a moral obligation to act now to protect them – otherwise, left unreformed, the current law will consign even more families to misery and dire financial hardship.”
Mr Fraser, who provided evidence to the Committee during its inquiry, concluded:
“Resolution members have been campaigning for the law to change for many years. With the publication of this report adding to the growing number of calls for reform – including from the Law Commission – we now call on the Government to take forward the committee’s recommendations and end the legal limbo faced by millions of families in England and Wales.”
Responding to the report, Emily Deane, Technical Counsel & Head of Government Affairs at STEP, said:
“STEP welcomes the publication of this report and supports many of the recommendations that it makes. We agree with the Committee that legal structures are needed to provide protection for people who co-habit but are not married.
We support the Committee’s call for a public information campaign that would help dispel the myth that ‘common law marriage’ exists in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. We would be happy to work with government on this and use our global network to dispel this damaging and longstanding misconception.
While each co-habiting couple’s situation is different, we called for a new model in our submission in which co-habiting families would be covered by legal structures giving them specific rights. Because one size does not fit all, families could also choose to opt-out of these arrangements and make their own financial plans. We are pleased that the report’s recommendations are in line with what we suggested.
We are also delighted that the report recommends that the inheritance tax regime should be reformed so it is the same for cohabiting partners as it currently is for married couples and civil partners.”
