Is there such a thing as common law marriage in England and Wales?

Where does the idea of common law marriage come from?

The idea comes from a time when English law did recognise informal marriages, and it has survived long after the rule disappeared. Before Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1753, a couple could in some circumstances become validly married by exchanging words of consent without a church ceremony. The 1753 Act, which took effect in 1754 and applied to England and Wales but not Scotland, required a church wedding with banns or a licence, and the old informal route was closed. The background is told on the page about the Hardwicke Marriage Act of 1753.

The phrase "common law marriage" nonetheless lived on in everyday speech, and the House of Commons Library notes that some people still describe cohabitation in this way ^[1]. The Library's briefing is blunt about the legal position: cohabitation gives a couple no general legal status of the kind that marriage or civil partnership confers, and many people do not realise it ^[1]. The belief that a couple becomes married in law after a certain number of years, often said to be two, five or seven, has no basis in the law of England and Wales.

The belief matters because of the numbers involved. According to the Commons Library, cohabiting couples in England and Wales rose from about 1.5 million in 1996 to about 3.6 million in 2021, an increase of 144 per cent, and in 2021 around 22 per cent of couples living together were cohabiting rather than married or in a civil partnership ^[1]. A government notice about the 2026 consultation puts the number of unmarried couples in England and Wales at more than 3.5 million ^[6]. A sizeable minority of the population is therefore living under a legal framework that many of them believe works differently.

Scotland went one step further. The Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006, the same statute that created cohabitants' financial claims, also ended the old rule under which a couple could become married through cohabitation with "habit and repute", for relationships after the Act took effect in 2006. In both parts of Great Britain the position today is the same: living together does not make a marriage.

Married couples and cohabiting couples in England and Wales (October 2026)

Issue	Married couple or civil partners	Unmarried cohabitants
Legal status of the couple	Created by the marriage or partnership	None, whatever the length of the relationship [1]
Financial claims on separation	Court can reallocate income and capital on divorce	No equivalent claim; property disputes are settled by trust and property law [1]
Spouse-style maintenance	Possible after divorce	None for the partner; support for children only
Estate without a will	Spouse or civil partner inherits under the intestacy rules	Nothing automatic, however long the relationship [11]
Claim against an estate	Reasonable provision, not limited to maintenance	Possible under the 1975 Act, subject to its conditions (see the page on inheritance)
Reform status	Divorce reform consultation, June-August 2026	Consultation June-August 2026; Cohabitation Rights Bill [HL] in the Lords [5][8][9]

What rights do cohabiting couples have in England and Wales?

Cohabiting couples in England and Wales have the rights that any two individuals have, plus a few specific protections, but not the automatic rights of spouses or civil partners. The Commons Library says that cohabitants have some legal protection in certain areas, such as domestic abuse law, but no general status ^[1]. Rights therefore depend on what each partner owns, what they agreed in writing, and what the law of trusts or contract can supply.

On the family home, much turns on legal title. If the house is in joint names, the partners own it as the title says, and the courts look to the declared shares. If it is in one name only, the other partner has no automatic share and must prove an interest under the law of trusts, usually by showing a common intention to share ownership and a contribution to the purchase or its payments. The leading cases are Stack v Dowden (2007) and Kernott v Jones (2011), both decided at the highest level, and they show how fact-specific such claims are. Financial contributions are easier to prove than domestic work.

Occupation of the home is a different matter. Under the Family Law Act 1996, a cohabitant who has no legal right to the home may still ask a court for an occupation order, for example in the context of domestic abuse, but the rights are weaker than a spouse's and for a limited time. The Commons Library points to protection under domestic abuse law as one of the areas where cohabitants are covered ^[1].

Cohabitants can reduce their exposure by planning. The Library suggests that cohabitation agreements can record what a couple wants to happen if the relationship ends, and that couples should take legal advice before signing them ^[1]. A declaration of trust on a jointly bought home and a will are the two most common precautions. A separate page covers what happens to an unmarried partner who dies without a will.

What happens to property and children when cohabitants separate?

When cohabitants separate in England and Wales, a court cannot redistribute their assets as it would on divorce, so property and children are handled under separate rules. For a divorcing couple, the court has wide powers to reallocate income, capital and pensions. For unmarried couples there is no equivalent claim: the Commons Library notes that cohabitation gives no general legal status, and the starting point is who owns what ^[1].

Property disputes between former partners are decided under the law of trusts and property, which means that the claimant must show a beneficial interest. A partner who has given up work to raise children, with no name on the title, may receive little or nothing. That is the situation the Law Commission had in mind when it proposed reform in 2007, explaining that its project looked at the financial hardship for cohabitants or their children when a relationship ends by separation or death ^[2].

Children are in a different position because the law looks to the child rather than the parents' relationship status. A court can order financial provision for a child under the Children Act 1989 whether or not the parents were married, and child maintenance is assessed in the same way for both. The Law Commission's cohabitation project expressly included capital awards for children under that Act within its scope ^[2]. An unmarried father acquires parental responsibility if he is named on the birth certificate for a birth registered on or after 1 December 2003, otherwise he must obtain it by agreement or court order ^[16].

The practical result is that a cohabitant who is the lower earner or the main carer can be financially exposed on separation, even after many years and children. A cohabitant who owns a home outright can lose a share in it only if the other partner proves a trust. The unevenness between cases is one of the main arguments made by campaigners for reform.

How is Scotland different?

Scotland gives cohabitants a statutory claim that England and Wales do not, though it is narrower than a divorce claim. Section 28 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 allows a cohabitant, when the cohabitation ends otherwise than by death, to ask the court for a capital sum, an amount towards the economic burden of caring for a child of both partners, or an interim order ^[3]. The court looks at whether the other partner gained an economic advantage from the applicant's contributions and whether the applicant suffered an economic disadvantage in the interests of the partner or a child ^[3].

"Contributions" include indirect and non-financial ones, such as looking after a child or the home, and the application must be made within one year of the day the couple stopped living together ^[3]. A cohabitant is defined in section 25 as a man and a woman living together as if they were husband and wife, or two persons of the same sex living together as if they were civil partners, and the court considers the length of the relationship, its nature and any financial arrangements ^[4]. The detail of these rules is explained on the page about cohabitation rights in Scotland.

Scotland is also looking again at its own law. A Scottish Government consultation published on 29 December 2025 and closed on 21 April 2026 asked for views on the Scottish Law Commission's 2022 Report on Cohabitation (Scot Law Com No 261), which recommends replacing the "as if husband and wife" test with one based on an "enduring family relationship" and allowing a late claim within a second year in some cases ^[10]. The consultation also asks about intestacy claims under section 29 of the 2006 Act ^[10].

Northern Ireland has a third approach. The Commons Library says that cohabitants there have some legal protection but fewer rights and responsibilities than married couples or civil partners ^[1]. The detail of Northern Irish law was not examined for this article, and readers needing it should consult the statutes or a local solicitor.

What reforms have been proposed?

The Law Commission proposed a statutory scheme for cohabitants in July 2007, and after almost two decades England and Wales are, as of October 2026, in a consultation phase rather than a legislative one. The 2007 report, Cohabitation: The Financial Consequences of Relationship Breakdown, recommended financial relief on separation based on each partner's qualifying contributions, financial or non-financial, with eligibility depending on a child or a minimum period of living together, and with a right to opt out in writing ^[1][2].

Successive governments did not act. In March 2008 the Labour government said it would wait for research on the Scottish scheme, and on 6 September 2011 a written ministerial statement said the recommendations would not be taken forward in the 2010 to 2015 Parliament ^[1][2]. A separate 2011 Law Commission report on intestacy recommended that cohabitants of five years' standing, or two years where they had a child, should inherit under the intestacy rules; the government said it would not implement those recommendations either ^[11]. In April 2018 the government said it would consider the proposals in the context of wider family justice reform ^[1].

The House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee reported on 4 August 2022, recommending reform to protect cohabiting couples and their children from financial hardship, while recognising the continuing social and religious importance of marriage. The government replied that work on marriage and divorce law had to conclude first ^[1].

The position then moved in 2026. On 5 June 2026 the Ministry of Justice opened a consultation, "A fairer end to relationships" (Command Paper CP 1581), covering England and Wales, which closed at 11.59pm on 14 August 2026. It asked about three matters: financial remedies on divorce and dissolution, financial provision for cohabitants on separation, and inheritance provision for cohabitants on death ^[5][6][12]. For cohabitants on separation, the paper proposes a framework limited to adults in committed, romantic relationships who have lived together for at least three years or who live together and share a child, and who are "living together as a couple in an enduring family relationship" ^[12][13]. Protection would apply automatically, with an opt-out where both partners agree, and the remedies would be narrower than on divorce, with maintenance limited to exceptional, time-limited cases ^[12]. The paper also proposes a limitation period for cohabitants' claims ^[12]. A law-firm summary reports that this period would be two years and that a minimum age of 18 was under consideration, but the figures were not found in the parts of the paper that could be read ^[7].

On the same day, 5 June 2026, Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames introduced the Cohabitation Rights Bill [HL] as a private member's bill in the House of Lords. As introduced it would apply to couples with a dependent child or who have lived together for at least three years, allow a financial settlement order, let both partners opt out, give a surviving cohabitant intestacy rights and grant cohabitants an insurable interest in each other's lives ^[8][9]. The bill had its second reading on 17 July 2026. Baroness Levitt, for the Government, said the Government could not support it because the consultation was under way and it preferred a needs-based model to the bill's compensation-based approach ^[14]. Parliament's bills record, last updated on 9 September 2026, shows the bill at committee stage in the Lords ^[15]. Neither the consultation proposals nor the bill is law, and until legislation is passed the position described above remains in force ^[6][7].

Frequently asked questions

How long do you have to live together to be 'common law' married?

There is no such period. In England and Wales, living together for any length of time does not make a couple married, and the idea of a common law marriage has no legal effect. Only a marriage ceremony or a civil partnership registration changes legal status. The 2026 proposals would use three years of living together (or a shared child) only as a threshold for new financial claims, not to create a marriage.

Can a cohabiting partner inherit without a will?

Not automatically. Under the intestacy rules of England and Wales a surviving unmarried partner inherits nothing as of right, however long the couple lived together. A partner may be able to bring a claim for provision under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, as the page on cohabiting partner inheritance explains.

Do cohabitants have to pay each other maintenance?

No. England and Wales have no maintenance claim between unmarried partners comparable to spousal maintenance on divorce. Parents must still support their children, and a court can order financial provision for a child under the Children Act 1989. Scotland differs, since section 28 of the 2006 Act allows a capital sum and a payment towards the cost of caring for a child.

Does Northern Ireland recognise common law marriage?

No evidence was found that it does. The House of Commons Library says that cohabitants in Northern Ireland have some legal protection but fewer rights and responsibilities than married couples or civil partners. Northern Ireland makes its own family law, so its rules can differ from those of England and Wales.

Do unmarried parents have the same rights over their children?

Largely yes as to financial support, less so as to parental responsibility. A court can order financial provision for a child whatever the parents' marital status. An unmarried father has parental responsibility if he is named on the birth certificate for a birth registered on or after 1 December 2003, otherwise he has to obtain it by agreement or court order.

Is the law on cohabitation about to change?

Possibly, but nothing has been enacted. The Ministry of Justice consultation "A fairer end to relationships" closed on 14 August 2026, and the Cohabitation Rights Bill [HL], a private member's bill, was introduced on 5 June 2026 and had its second reading on 17 July. Whether either will lead to legislation depends on the government's response, which had not been published when this page was last checked on 28 October 2026.