Cohabitation

Separation for cohabiting couples can be a complex and emotional process, particularly as the automatic legal rights available to married couples do not apply. There is no concept of a “common law marriage” in the UK, and so the rights available to cohabiting couples on separation derive from different sources.

Lockdown has been a difficult period for everybody, regardless of their living arrangements. There has been plenty of coverage of couples whose relationships have not survived lockdown, but what about couples who have been kept apart by Covid?

Unfortunately there are numerous families suffering from the effects of being locked down during this Covid-19 pandemic.

The number of cohabitating couples in the UK is rising, and the decision to move in together and start a family without the ‘big wedding day’ is increasingly common for millions of people across the UK. However, it is important to consider what your rights are as a cohabiting couple, and where you legally stand if you and your partner decide to separate.

To compromise is to give up something you want to keep, in order to obtain a solution to the problem you are facing. By definition, in a compromise situation you lose. This is not to be confused with concessions, which are often called compromises, but they are not. A concession is where you trade something to receive something else in return. Concessions in negotiation are outside the scope of this blog. I will write about concessions separately.

When we experience any unfortunate turn of events, such as a relationship breakdown, we will often turn to our friends for support.

When partners separate, it is a very common practice for the party remaining in the property to change the locks. This might be perfectly acceptable if the property is held in the sole name of the remaining party, but it is unlawful to change the locks on a jointly held property without a court order in place to support such an action.