Come Live With Me And Be My Love

Nov. 19, 2008 - PRLog -- Says Wendy,
“Couples who simply choose to live together are often unaware of the lack of legal protection in place in the event of their relationship breakdown.

The expectation that cohabitants acquire legal rights after a period of living together is a myth. So often termed ‘the common law wife or husband’ the reality is that there is no protection in place and it is necessary to look to Property Law and Trust Law to try and find a remedy.”

If the couple have a child together then there may be a remedy under the Children Act (Schedule 1) which provides a right for the parent with care of the child to occupy the house under a Property Settlement Order until the child leaves full time education and/or a right to apply for lump sums to meet other expenses relating to the child. Such Orders will only last until the child has finished full time education at 18 or possibly 21 (i.e. the end of first degree course).  

Wendy comments,
“The fundamental difference between married and non-married parties is that the Court currently has no power to order outright transfers of property from one partner to the other, lump sums (unless for the benefit of the child), provision of maintenance for the partner or pension sharing. The law is the proverbial ‘ass’ in these circumstances.”

Married parties enjoy such protection. Homosexual couples now enjoy the same protection under the Civil Partnership Act but heterosexual cohabiting couples currently have no remedy at all unless there is a child involved, and even then the powers are limited as outlined above.

Faced with these obvious anomalies in times when the rate of cohabiting couples is on the increase (the 2001 census recorded over 2,000,000 cohabiting couples in England and Wales, an increase of 67% from the previous census) the Government asked the Law Commission to report on possible changes to the law.

That report, dated August 2007, recommended that the Government consider granting legal protection to those couples who lived together for a ‘minimum period’, something deemed to be between three to five years, to be eligible for protection and/or if they have a child. There would be an opt-out arrangement for those couples who specifically wanted to ‘disapply’ the scheme.

Wendy points out,
“Unfortunately, the recommendations fall short of offering the same range of protection currently enjoyed by married couples, signifying that the institution of marriage is still to be favoured.”

For those contemplating living together in the new future however, these measures are unlikely to follow immediately, probably not before 2009 at the earliest. Before then, those who want to ‘live with their love’ should think about alternative protections such as Cohabitation Contracts or protecting their ownership of property by reference to carefully drawn conveyancing documents or so called Trust Deeds.

For advice on any matters arising from the above contact Wendy Gouldingay or Rachna Raninga at Tallents Solicitors on 01636 813411 (Southwell) or 01636 671881 (Newark).

…ends

For more information, contact Tallents on 01636 813411 or 01636 671881.


Tallents Solicitors, 2, Westgate, Southwell and 3 Middlegate, Newark,
Tel: 01636 813411 and 01636 671881

www.tallents.co.uk

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ABOUT TALLENTS

Established in 1774 and with offices in Newark, Mansfield and Southwell, Tallents Solicitors services the legal needs of private individuals, company and commercial clients and farmers in North Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.

We still offer a personal service to our clients and our size and structure ensures that partners are never remote from our clients. We provide a full range of legal services and our expertise covers all areas of law including:
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