Caroline Bowden sets out the need for cohabitation reform—for some couples but not others
- This article discusses the need for law reform to protect vulnerable cohabitees, particularly women, who are economically disadvantaged in cohabiting relationships.
- It differentiates between crafted couples, who choose not to legally regulate their relationship, and shafted couples, in which one partner is economically dominant.
- It suggests new legal provisions to better protect vulnerable cohabitees.
Why cohabit? All couples are now free to marry and all couples are now free to enter a civil partnership. Should there be law reform for couples who choose not to commit to either?
That question has already been answered. The government’s pre-election manifesto pledged to ‘strengthen the rights and protections available to women in cohabiting couples’.
Why just women? What about same-sex couples, or when the male cohabitee takes on the main parenting role? While the law is sure to cover these situations, the government has framed the problem around the most common stereotype: a more financially powerful man/father and his more economically
