If you are in a relationship and living with the same person for many years, you may believe that you are part of a ‘common law marriage’.
This is the belief that, at some point, the act of being together for a period of time is enough to gain legal rights and protections.
Unfortunately, this is simply not true and you should be taking more direct steps to protect your legal position if you are living with a partner outside of marriage.
What is a ‘common law marriage’?
There is no such thing as a ‘common law marriage’, at least from a legal perspective. Despite this, 46 per cent of cohabitants in England and Wales falsely believed that they were part of a distinct legal group that contained its own rights and protections.
The confusion may come from the fact that the term ‘common law spouse’ can be used to describe unmarried couples who have lived together for an extended period of time.
It may be more helpful for couples of this kind to be referred to by the more accurate label of cohabitating couple, as this gives a stronger indication of how they can secure greater legal rights.
However, only by understanding cohabitation agreements and Wills can a ‘common law marriage’ begin to approximate a legally recognised relationship.
Is official marriage the only way for couples to get legal protections?
By default, a couple has no legal rights or protections regardless of how long they have been together or lived together.
Assets and funds that have both names attached to them will be split in the event of the relationship ending or one person dying, but anything that is in only one person’s name will be handled as exclusively theirs.
This means that you may lose your home if you break up or your partner dies if they own the property.
If your partner dies without a Will, you will receive no inheritance under the rules of intestacy as it only passes to married spouses, direct relatives or the Crown.
A well-written cohabitation agreement and a pair of Wills can emulate the legal protections afforded by marriage.
A cohabitation agreement is a legally binding contract for any people who live together, whether dating or not. It is used to outline the ownership of the property, any assets linked to the property, the division of how bills are paid while you live together and what happens should you part ways.
While it might seem a bit doom and gloom to factor in the potential ending of a relationship, a cohabitation agreement is valuable even if you stay together for the rest of your lives, given that it can directly interact with ongoing commitments.
To add additional protections for you and your partner, you should each have a Will that determines how the other will receive inheritance along with anyone else that you want to name as a beneficiary.
This is especially important if you are helping to raise your partner’s biological children, as they will not receive any inheritance from you under the laws of intestacy unless you officially adopt them.
Blended families can be particularly vulnerable without a Will in place and this can result in tension after a person has died.
At Palmers Solicitors, we want to make sure that the people of Essex are well informed of their legal rights and know how to be protected by the law.
We can work with you to draw up a cohabitation agreement that suits your relationship and have a sensitive discussion about Will writing.
Many couples find Mirror Wills useful as these work in partnership to ensure that shared assets are treated the same by both Wills, thereby reducing the risk of your partner accidentally bequeathing something that you had intended to leave to someone else. Get in touch with our team to turn your ‘common law marriage’ into a legally protected relationship.
