I read in the paper yesterday that the government are seriously looking into the status of couples who have chosen not to get married from a legal standpoint. Essentially they are saying that unmarried couples need to have some of the rights bestowed upon them that married couples do, to try and protect them in the event of death of one partner or other issues which would make life financially difficult for either partner. This sounds quite fair, and many people will start supporting the concept based on this idea. There are however some flaws with the argument.

What about couples who are not married because they don’t want to be legally tied to each other, but are living together? Under the proposals, if a couple live together for more than two years and then decide to split, each party will be able to make claims against thier ex-partner for financial assistance and other such things simply on the basis of the fact they had a relationship and lived together. This is irrespective of the fact that there may have been no children involved in the relationship.

This presents a serious problem, its almost going as far as to say you cannot have anything verging on a serious relationship with someone without having legal obligations towards them. This is insane. Relationships before marriage should be a commitment of love and no more; a big reason for not getting married straight away is not being sure of if you want to make a commitment. Havinging made one legally just by living with them kind of ruins this idea. There is also no opt-out clause proposed for this; they even go as far as to suggest that couples sign a “cohabitation agreement” if they are concerned by legal ramifications of living together. What the f**k !!?? I’ve heard of such things before marriage, but before living in the same house? This is insanity beyond belief.

The government needs to take a chill pill and stop poking their noses into people private lives and making us all a slave to financially orientated legislation. If they really want to help unmarried couples in this way they should make the legislation opt-in only and allow couples who don’t want to commit in any way financially but to still live together to go on doing so. Student couples often cohabit for more than two years simply by the nature of the fact a degree lasts for 3 or more years, and I feel sure that there will be many student couples who have been made uneasy by this news. Feel free to post your comments on this news, especially if you are a student, a partner in a couple to which these new proposals would apply, or have in the past been in a relationship to which it would have applied.