Data from the Office for National Statistics show this type of family are the fastest growing in the UK.
I don't think it will be long before we have some specific legislation to govern what happens when cohabiting couples split up.
I saw a client recently, who mistakenly believed that there was such as a thing as a common law husband and wife - it's a myth!
The cohabitation rights bill is still going through parliament - so watch this space.
According to the data Cohabiting couple families grew by 29.7% between 2004 and 2014 - the fastest growing type of family in the UK. Although there is no such thing as common law marriage in UK law, 51% of respondents to the British Social Attitudes Survey in 2008 thought that unmarried couples who live together for some time probably or definitely had a 'common law marriage' which gives them the same legal rights as married couples, although this is not legally the case.
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