http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,1437071,00.html

Clare Dyer, legal correspondent
Monday March 14, 2005
The Guardian

Unmarried partners who split up are likely to win new rights to make
divorce-style claims for financial support and a share of the other
partner's property if Labour is re-elected.
Reform of the law to provide new legal protection for the four million
people living together outside marriage - one in six of all couples - is not
yet formal government policy. But ministers are concerned about the lack of
safeguards for the growing numbers who choose not to formalise their
relationship, and the effects on their children.

The lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, has asked the Law Commission to produce
proposals for legislation and a draft bill, which would apply to England and
Wales. The two-year project is expected to get under way in July, with
initial proposals for consultation the following spring and final
recommendations and draft bill by summer 2007.

According to figures last week from the Government Actuary's Department, the
numbers of married men and women are predicted to fall below 50% of the
population within six years. By 2031 the number of couples living together
outside marriage is expected to nearly double, from 2 million to 3.8
million.

Later this year gay partners will be able to register their unions as civil
partnerships, giving them many of the rights conferred by marriage. But
heterosexual couples who fail to tie the marital knot are left with
virtually no legal redress when the relationship ends.

Until now, ministers have resisted extending rights to them for fear of
being accused of undermining marriage. But statistics show that the growing
numbers who opt out of marriage remain largely unaware of their lack of
rights.

Research in 2000 found that 56% of people, rising to 59% of cohabitees,
believed that "common law" wives and husbands have rights similar to those
conferred by marriage. In fact, unlike a husband or wife, an unmarried
partner has no right to claim financial support from the other partner, no
matter how long they have lived together, and no automatic right to a share
of property in the other partner's name.

The Department of Constitutional Affairs has mounted a "living together
campaign" to try to make cohabitees aware of their limited rights.

Stuart Bridge, the law commissioner heading the new project, said the idea
was not to give cohabitees the same rights as married partners, but to give
them a measure of protection.

Similar laws have been enacted in Australia and Canada, and in New Zealand
"de facto" spouses have almost all the rights which marriage confers.

Both Resolution (formerly the Solicitors Family Law Association) and the Law
Society have drawn up separate blueprints for reform. Under both, rights to
claim financial provision would come into play once a couple had lived
together for a fixed period, say two years, or had a child. "The watchword
at the moment is how to deal with financial hardship when a relationship
breaks down, and we're looking for remedies for that," Mr Bridge said.

The project will cover opposite-sex and same-sex couples and will look at
hardship caused when one partner dies, as well as when a relationship breaks
down.



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