Premarital cohabitation is when an unmarried couple who are in an intimate sexual relationship live together. Ages of these couples who decide to live together is practically young. The National Marriage project states that “About two-thirds said they believed that moving in together before marriage was a good way to avoid divorce” (Jay, 2012).
Financial Rights of Unmarried Couples Living Together UK.
Married couples can rely on s.25 and s.27 under the Matrimonial Causes Act to declare equal share of assets. Cohabitants can rely on implied and constructive trust to protect their financial rights by proving that a trust was created.By definition, unmarried cohabitation is the status of couples who are sexual partners, not married to each other, and sharing a household (Popenoe). These two definitions seem to be similar in what each union reflects, but outwardly marriage includes a legal union that is meant to be a lifelong commitment.Similarly, unmarried women are more likely than married women to suffer to sexual or physical abuse. The children of cohabiting couples are dropout of school or lower academic performance. The individual consequence, majority of cohabiting couples unforeseen or unavoidable consequence after break up. Women often suffer these bad results.
Cohabitation is a permanent or long term union of two unmarried individuals in a sexual relationship (Henslin, 2010). Reasons for couple cohabitation include test of marriage compatibility, fiscal reasons and the want to remain single. Cohabiting is a form of union for illegal unions like same sex marriages or already married persons.The system of contributory benefits does not recognise unmarried couples, or same-sex couples not in a civil partnership. So, for example, unmarried partners and same-sex couples who have not registered a civil partnership would not be entitled to Bereavement Benefits. In the case of taxation, the cohabitants are treated individually.
