Minister urged to move quickly on cohabitation reform

Family lawyers have urged the government to move quickly on cohabitation reform to protect victims of domestic abuse and coercive control.

The Ministry of Justice is currently sifting through responses to proposals for strengthening the financial rights of unmarried couples if they split up. For instance, courts would give greater weight to the impact of domestic abuse, including controlling or coercive behaviour and economic abuse, when assessing finances for married and cohabiting couples. 

Family law group Resolution is urging the government to introduce legislation as soon as possible, mindful that no-fault divorce came into force in April 2022 via a relatively straightforward bill that was introduced to parliament in 2020.

In a letter to justice minister Jake Richards MP, Resolution chair Melanie Bataillard-Samuel said that since the ministry began consulting on cohabitation reform, members have been contacted by people with no financial protection despite being with their partner for years. One person said: ‘Looking back I can see that the refusal to marry was all part of the pattern of control and that he never intended to marry me as he understood the financial consequences for him, whereas I just assumed that as a parent I had the same rights as married couples.’

Bataillard-Samuel said such stories served as an important reminder for why reform is urgently needed.

Jo Edwards, chair of Resolution’s family law reform group, told the Gazette: ‘We do not know how much time this government will have to get legislation through parliament and onto the statute book. Our message to the new ministerial team is therefore simple - bring forward a bill at the earliest possible opportunity. We stand ready to work with them and support this important reform.’