Family And Divorce Lawyers Say Current Laws Don’t Offer Protection To Those Living Together

Specialist family lawyers say the latest figures which show that cohabiting couple families are the fastest growing family type in the UK highlight the need for urgent law reforms in the way the law treats couples who live together outside marriage.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that Cohabiting couple families grew by 30% between 2004 and 2014 and are the fastest growing type of family in the UK.

There are now almost 3 million opposite sex cohabiting couple families and 84,000 same sex cohabiting couple families in the UK in 2014. This accounts for 16.4% of all families in the UK.
Expert family lawyers at Irwin Mitchell, which has a network of offices across the country, say that the cohabitation laws are “out of touch” and “need bringing into line with the 21st century way of living”. 
 
Alison Hawes, a partner in the family and divorce law team at Irwin Mitchell said:

Read more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in Family and Divorce Law.