27 Living Together and Your Rights if You Separate
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2. Why is living together different from being married?
As 'cohabitants' (people living together), you do not fit easily into the legal system. In some areas of law you are treated as if you are married, and in others you are treated differently.
It is important to understand that living together does not give you legal rights over each other, or legal duties or responsibilities to each other.
The idea of a 'common-law wife' or a 'common-law marriage' is a myth. Neither of you can claim maintenance, for instance, however long you have lived together. And if one of you dies, the other has no automatic rights to inherit their property.
This leaflet deals with your legal position in three sections:
- Setting up home
- When you are living together
- If you split up
What if we register our partnership?
A law called the Civil Partnerships Act, which came into force in December 2005, allows same-sex couples to register their partnership in a similar way to a civil marriage. But male-female couples cannot register their partnership in this way. In law, couples who register their partnership are treated in almost every way as if they are married. The information in this leaflet does not apply to couples who have registered their civil partnership, nor to married couples.
4. Making a ´living together agreement´
5. When you are living together
6. If you or your partner dies
7. State benefits for people living together
11. Arrangements if you have children
13. Sorting out other items you own
15. Terms used in matters to do with living together
This leaflet is published by the Legal Service Commission (LSC). It was written in association with Imogen Clout, a solicitor specialising in family law.
Latest version: August 2006