Cohabitants should have legal rights-report

LONDON, July 31 (Reuters) Cohabiting couples should not have the same rights as married couples, but those with children or who have lived together for some time need legal protection, the Law Commission said today.

The Commission, an independent body that advises the government on the need for legal reforms, said its proposals would not undermine marriage but provide fairer financial outcomes for cohabiting couples after a break-up or death.

Many cohabitants mistakenly believe in a ''common law marriage myth,'' meaning that they would be treated the same as married couples, the Commission said.

Its report said current rules that applied to unmarried couples were unsatisfactory and needed reform, often leading to ''unjust outcomes'', particularly for children, when relationships ended.

The Commission said the scheme it recommended would only apply to those with children or a couple who had lived together for a minimum length of time, suggesting from two to five years.

The two-year study, however, concluded that the breakdown of a cohabitant's relationship should not be treated the same as divorce.

''Many people think that cohabitants should have access to exactly the same remedies as married couples and civil partners.

We do not agree,'' the Commission said in a report.

The 2001 census found there were more than two million cohabiting couples in England and Wales.

However, suggestions these relationships should be given legal status, first mooted last year, led to criticism from the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams who said it would lead to the erosion of marriage and muddle its role in society.

''As soon as you define anything, you are creating a kind of status that is potentially a competition with marriage or a reinvention of marriage,'' he told a newspaper in June last year.

The Law Commission said couples who fitted its criteria would also be free to opt out of the scheme.

''It would not apply to all cohabitants and where it did apply would only give rise to remedies relating to contributions made to the relationship,'' said Stuart Bridge, the commissioner leading the study.

''We do not accept the argument that such reform would undermine marriage.'' Unlike with divorce, cohabitants would not have to meet each other's future needs through maintenance payments nor would there be any principle that the couple should share assets equally.

The government will now have to decide whether to introduce the proposals in England and Wales. The Scottish parliament introduced a similar scheme for unmarried couples last year.

''We have long argued that the exiting law is complex and is all too often unable to deal fairly with the financial consequences of relationship breakdown,'' said Kate Bell, head of policy and research for charity One Parent Families/Gingerbread.

''Most people accept that there should be a fair outcome when a relationship breaks down, particularly where a couple have had children, and most people are surprised that this is not the case.'' REUTERS ARB VV1744