No ring, no rights. Why living together is not the same as marriage
Around two million couples live together, but many don’t understand how few rights they have
Despite the fact that an increasing number of couples choose to live together, there's a lot of confusion about the rights of cohabiting couples. If you live with your partner in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, you have very few rights indeed (it's a bit different in Scotland and it's covered in a separate article). The government has looked at the idea of giving couples more rights, but decided to shelve plans in 2008.
Your rights if you live with your partner in Scotland
Couples who live together have more rights than those in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, but it may not be as many as you think
A few years ago, in 2006, there was a major change in family law in Scotland. But while it gave couples who live together more rights than they had previously – and more rights than cohabiting couples get anywhere else in the UK – they are limited. There’s a common misconception that when a couple who lived together in Scotland split up, one person will automatically have to pay the other a 'financial settlement’, but that’s simply not the case.
