Top judge wants fair shares for unmarried couples who break up

Head of family law division proposes reform 'because of injustice of present situation'

Unmarried partners should be given the right to each have an equitable share of assets and money should their relationship break down, the head of the family law division has said.

Sir Nicholas Wall's call will add to pressure for reform of the law, but may infuriate traditionalists who fear that any change will devalue the institution of marriage.

"I am in favour of cohabitees having rights because of the injustice of the present situation," Wall, president of the family division, told the Times today.

His comments came amid growing concern that the estimated two million couples who cohabit are not protected from financial hardship should they split up. Women are often the loser when a couple's property and money are divided.

"Marriage undoubtedly remains the most stable relationship for bringing up children and for support," Wall said, but he warned: "Women cohabitees, in particular, are severely disadvantaged by being unable to claim maintenance and having their property rights determined by the conventional laws of trusts."

Many people wrongly believe that they have legal rights as "common law" spouses, a status that has had no legal foundation for the past 200 years.

The Labour government considered a similar reform, promising to enable unmarried couples to make divorce-style financial claims against each other after they had split. It was never introduced. Scottish legislation does, however, allow cohabitees to make limited claims against one other.

In one recent case, Wall explained in the interview, a house was bought by an unmarried couple in joint names. "They had lived together for 10 years, had two children, and the judge divided 90% to the man and 10% to the woman," he said, "We [in the court of appeal] reversed it, and said it should be 50-50." The case is now going to the supreme court.

In the past the Church of England has said it woul! d be "sy mpathetic to [legal] reform that addresses the effect of relationship breakdown on children and those who make sacrifices to care for them". But it has rejected new rights for childless cohabitees based on length of cohabitation.


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