Your recent article on cohabitation rights contained an inaccuracy.

The Law Society is not advocating civil partnerships for heterosexual couples (see [2004] Gazette, 8 April, 4).

What the Law Society is doing is:

- Welcoming the government's Civil Partnerships Bill, which will give same-sex couples the option of making a commitment as close as possible to a marriage contract, and;

- Working on proposals for further legislation to protect cohabiting couples - be they heterosexual or same-sex.

While the Law Society applauds the new rights for gay couples, it remains concerned by the lack of legal protection for all cohabiting couples who do not, for whatever reason, wish to register their relationship or get married.

For example, following the breakdown of a relationship or death of one partner, people in such relationships can discover that they have no rights to the proceeds of a home that was only registered in the other partner's name.

The Law Society is not advocating that cohabiting couples get the same rights as married couples or those registering their relationship under the proposed new legislation.

But for couples with children or who have cohabited for more than two years, we want to see protection to ensure that neither is disadvantaged as a result of having lived together and that each takes away from the relationship any investment they made in property or assets.

Janet Paraskeva, Law Society chief executive, London