Raleys Solicitors

A member of the family law team here at Raleys Solicitors is backing calls for the new government to introduce financial rights for couples who cohabit.

Rebecca Baker, head of the Raleys Solicitors family law department, is backing the plea by Resolution, the family lawyers association, for the government to change the law regarding unmarried couples living together.
At present, couples who aren’t married have very little legal protection to ensure that they get an equal share of any assets, including the home, should their relationship end. Rebecca said the issue must be addressed as the number of unmarried cohabiting couples continues to increase. And, she said, there is a risk that one partner may find themselves slipping into poverty following the breakdown of a relationship.
“Many people do not realise that the legal safeguards of marriage do not apply to couples who live together outside wedlock- and that is the case whether children are involved or not,” said Rebecca. “When a marriage breaks down there is a legal process you can go through to ensure assets are divided fairly and to ensure that the future financial needs of children are met. Yet if a relationship ends and the couple were cohabiting, regardless of the length of time they were together, in the vast majority of cases there is either nothing, or very little, one can do to safeguard their financial well-being.”

Rebecca said that women and the children are at particular risk of falling into poverty following a relationship breakdown between unmarried couples. “In the vast majority of relationships, even today, men can often be the main earner. When a relationship out of marriage ends, it is often he woman who faces giving up rights to savings in their ex-partner’s sole name and losing her home because she cannot afford to keep it on herself. Children often remain in the full-time care of their mother, leading to more financial pressures. A relationship breakdown could mean a woman having to make the difficult decision between giving up her job to care for her children or pay for extra childcare to ensure she can stay in work.”

“The law in this area has been overtaken by the changes in our society. There is a fear that introducing new laws to protect unmarried couples financially in the event of relationship breakdown will undermine marriage. Surely the most important issue here, particularly when children are involved, is to ensure both parties can leave a relationship in a financially stable position.”

Chairman of Resolution, David Allison said: “Family break ups are a sad fact of life and the shape of the family has changed. Yet family law reform has been neglected. If the government is serious about building Britain’s future it must change the law.”