Radio 4 4pm 15 / 11 Cohabiting couples' rights

[Abitofalark]

'Law in Action' programme on Radio 4 today includes an item about legal rights of cohabiting couples:

"Is it time to improve the legal protection of the UK's 3.6 million cohabiting couples? Many wrongly believe that after a period of time together or having children, they have similar rights to married couples or people in civil partnerships. But that is not the case, and the government recently rejected the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee's recommended reforms. In Scotland, cohabiting couples gained some statutory rights for the first time in 2006, but a report by the Scottish Law Commission now says that they need to be updated and made fairer."

[Also opened a thread on this in 'Feminism: chat' sub forum. Not sure of the etiquette about duplicating threads]

Absolutely disagree, so you could cohabit with someone to see if you wanted to do this 'forever' decide you're incompatible and they could take your pension/property etc? What timeframe would be considered fair? Sod that!

Agree with @MichelleScarn - if you don't want to get married (or have a civil partnership), it's because you don't want to legally link your affairs to your partner.

What is needed is more education about marriage/civil partnership from a legal rather than romantic perspective so people understand the legal impact of getting or not getting married.

@MichelleScarn has it.

It needs to be opt in not opt out.

What about people who do just want to cohabit with no rights? It would strip them of this option.

Completely agree with this. The wedding industry has done a real number on many. The wedding is one day and will quickly be forgotten. The really important bit is the marriage certificate, if that's what's best suited to both partners, and ideally in that case, get it done before children come along.

I’d be concerned about what constitutes a ‘couple’. How will it be determined whether two people who live together are a couple or are simply sharing a home? For example, if roommates sleep together, at what point are they in a relationship and when would these rights come into action? Would both parties have to consent to this or would it be automatic?