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- Title
Cohabitation, Registration, and Reliance: Creating A Comprehensive and Just Scheme for Protecting the Interests of Couples' Real Relationships.
- Authors
Culhane, John G.
- Abstract
This paper argues that courts and legislatures should recognize and protect adult relationships other than marriage, in two ways. First, couples in committed, cohabitating relationships should be protected when their relationship dissolves—even if they are not formally married. The law in this area is currently inconsistent and confusing, and should be cleaned up to reflect the reality of the lives of committed couples in need of legal protection. Second, all states should establish a registration scheme along the lines of Colorado's designated beneficiary law, which allows couples to flexibly design their legal relationship. This status should include specific arrangements about the ownership of property over the course of a long relationship, and should also be expanded to allow people to enter into more than one such relationship at a time, as long as the rights and obligations are not inconsistent. Given the number of couples operating outside of traditional marriage today, these two reforms will increase certainty of legal outcome and better protect the reliance interests of those in committed relationships. Key Points for the Family Court Community: Advising clients on their rights upon the dissolution of their nonmarital relationships is difficult, because in many states the law is unclear (or unsupportive of the economically weaker party).Courts and legislatures should recognize the rights of unmarried cohabitants, both by granting legal rights to cohabitants and by creating a new registration status that will clearly spell out the rights and obligations the parties wish to grant (or impose upon) each other.This registration status should take its inspiration from Colorado's designated beneficiary law, but can improve on that law by allowing consenting adults to enter into more than one such relationship at the same time, provided the rights and obligations being conferred are not inconsistent.This dual approach should better protect the reasonable reliance interests of couples, provide clarity and guidance for family law practitioners, and give courts the tools they need to reach a just resolution when relationships end.
- Subjects
COHABITATION agreements; INTERPERSONAL relations; DISPUTE resolution; RELIANCE (Law); CONFLICT of interest laws
- Publication
Family Court Review, 2020, Vol 58, Issue 1, p145
- ISSN
1531-2445
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/fcre.12460