Is the law going to change?
Don't hold your breath
For a while, it looked like the law might be changed. The government asked the Law Commission to investigate whether the law needed to be changed to give cohabiting couples more rights when there relationship ends, or when one partner dies without leaving a will.
In July 2007, the Law Commission concluded that the law should be changed but that they should not get the same rights as married couples. They suggested changing the law to give courts more powers to make things fairer by redistributing shares in the home, savings, pensions, and debts etc when a couple splits up if:
- they have been together for a minimum period of time, or
- had children together,
- and where one had made a significant contribution to the relationship that left them out of pocket (or left their partner quids in).
This would be particularly helpful for couples where one has given up work or gone part time to look after the children, or where one has been paying the mortgage on a home owned by the other.
However....
It was up to the government to draft a bill and introduce it to parliament if they wanted to change the law. In March 2008, the government announced that they had decided to wait for the outcome of research into the effectiveness and costs of similar(ish) changes that came into effect in Scotland in 2007 before making a decision on whether the law should change here.
So what does this mean?
In practice, this means that the law might change at some time in the future - but that you shouldn't hold your breath. If anything does happen (and that is a huge if), it's very unlikely to be before 2012.
So, where does that leave me?
You need to take steps to protect yourself and your partner now.To find out what simple steps you should take, look at the LivingTogether introduction page or go to LivingTogether section for more detail.
You can read more about the Law Commission's review and the Government response by following the links below.
