header-logo header-logo

Book review: Barlow’s Cohabitants and the Law (Fourth Edition)

18 October 2018 / Graeme Fraser
Issue: 7813 / Categories: Features
printer mail-detail

“While most recommended books on cohabitation law centre on property claims, this is one of the best general guides around for all aspects of cohabitation law”

  • Author: David Josiah-Lake
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Professional
  • ISBN: 9781526503046
  • Pages: 359
  • RRP: £75.00

This book ambitiously attempts to summarise cohabitation law in the absence of specific family legislation. Given that the last edition was written in 2001, this new edition reflects legal recognition of same-sex relationships; developments in domestic abuse legislation; the introduction of child arrangements orders; and the up-to-date case law in relation to constructive and resulting trusts in a domestic property situation.

Living together

The first part of the book centres on living together. Cohabitation contracts are examined in useful detail, with helpful guidance as to their enforceability. A chapter on the status of children analyses changes made to parentage, while summarising the rules in relation to acquiring parental responsibility; change of name; and adoption and infertility treatment.

There is good coverage in relation to housing, both for rented accommodation

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
back-to-top-scroll