Cohabiting Couples: Your Legal Rights Are Changing
On 5 June 2026, the government launched a consultation called "A Fairer End to Relationships" — a title that says a great deal about what has gone wrong until now. For decades, millions of cohabiting couples in England and Wales have lived together under the false belief that they have automatic legal rights over property, finances, and assets when a relationship ends. They don't. Now, for the first time in a generation, that could be about to change.
Resolution — the professional body representing more than 6,500 family law solicitors — described the announcement as "a welcome and significant step towards ending the endemic unfairness for cohabiting couples."
The "Common Law Marriage" Myth — Still Costing People Dearly
The idea of "common law marriage" — that living together for long enough creates the same rights as being married — has been comprehensively debunked by family lawyers for years, yet it persists stubbornly. Research has repeatedly shown that around half of all adults in the UK believe that unmarried couples who live together have the same or broadly similar legal rights to married couples.
They do not. When a cohabiting relationship ends, each partner takes away what is legally theirs. There is no family law process that requires a court to weigh up what is fair. There is no equivalent of the financial settlement that divorcing couples go through. If one partner sacrificed career progression, earning capacity, or financial independence for the sake of the relationship — to raise children, to support a business, or simply to make the family's life work — they may leave the relationship with little or nothing to show for it.
In England and Wales, there are over 3.5 million cohabiting couples. These proposals, if enacted, would affect all of them.
What the Government Is Proposing
The consultation document proposes that cohabitants should qualify for new legal protections if they meet one of two criteria:
They have lived together for at least three years, or
They share a child together
In either case, courts would need to be satisfied that the couple was in an "enduring family relationship." The proposals draw on an approach already operating in Scotland, which reformed its cohabitation law in 2006, as well as similar frameworks in other jurisdictions.
The consultation is open until 14 August 2026. Any resulting legislation would then depend on parliamentary time — realistically placing new law no earlier than 2027.
What Would Actually Change
Currently, when a cohabiting relationship ends, courts have almost no power to intervene in how assets are divided. Property disputes are resolved through trusts and land law — complex, expensive, and not designed with fairness in mind. There is nothing remotely equivalent to the divorce financial settlement process.
The proposed reforms would allow courts to make financial orders between former cohabitants where it is fair to do so. That could include ordering one partner to make payments to the other, or to transfer a share of a property. The intention is not to put unmarried couples on exactly the same footing as married ones, but to create a basic framework that reflects the reality of how modern families live and what each partner reasonably contributes.
What the Proposals Won't Fix — Yet
It is important to be clear about what this consultation does not propose. The new protections would not give cohabiting couples the same rights as married couples across the board. Pension rights, tax treatment, and the full range of divorce remedies would not automatically extend to cohabitants. A separate article in this series looks at what happens when a cohabiting partner dies without leaving a will — an equally serious gap in the current law.
Critically, even if the consultation leads to legislation, it would not help anyone whose relationship ends before the new law comes into force. The existing law — with all its limitations — applies today.
What Cohabiting Couples Should Do Right Now
The most effective step a cohabiting couple can take, under the existing law, is to put a cohabitation agreement in place. This is a legally binding document that sets out what each of you owns, how you manage shared finances, and what would happen if the relationship ended. It can cover property, savings, debt, and arrangements for children.
Cohabitation agreements are not romantic documents. But they are practical ones — and for couples who have combined their financial lives in the way that most long-term cohabitants do, they can make an enormous difference to what happens if things go wrong.
What Should You Do Next?
If you're living with a partner and you're not married, the gap between what you believe your rights to be and what they actually are can be significant. QualitySolicitors' first contact team can connect you with a family law solicitor who can explain your current legal position and advise on practical steps — such as a cohabitation agreement — that would protect you both. It's a straightforward conversation, and it could make a very significant difference.